Gopher football player killed: Brandon Hall shot as teammates confront alleged robbers.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

ST. PAUL _ Saturday was a night of firsts for University of Minnesota football player Brandon Hall: his first college football game, first tackle of a promising collegiate career, and a home-opener victory that he and fellow teammates celebrated.

But by 2:15 a.m. Sunday, all that joy was gone, as 19-year-old Hall lay fatally injured on a downtown Minneapolis street, a gunshot wound to the upper torso. His alleged killers reportedly had robbed and roughed up a fellow Gopher football player earlier in the night, and Hall and five or six other players had been summoned to help. But that assistance turned quickly to a confrontation with the alleged robbers and a single shot that struck Hall.

For Hall's family, it's hard to believe the 6-foot-5, 270-pound baby-faced man they called "Baby Giant" could meet such a violent end. An aunt in Detroit, his hometown, said he had called relatives to say he was feeling homesick not long before the shooting. Hall's teammates were left to grieve not even 24 hours after their season had officially begun. Hall, a redshirt freshman backup defensive tackle, contributed one tackle to the Gophers' 42-0 win over Southwest Texas State. "We've lost a family member," Gophers Coach Glen Mason said at a ...