Former New Jersey Nets basketball player Quinton Ross is NOT dead. The 32-year-old spent the majority of Tuesday morning (Mar. 25) reassuring concerned family and friends that he was ok after the New York Post ran a story claiming that he had been murdered.
Yesterday, the Post published a story that cops were investigating a crime after a man's body was found stuffed in a trash bag and buried in a shallow grave on the Far Rockaway beach. According to the newspaper, initial reports said the body was that of the former NBA player.
However, the story was wrong and the athlete is alive and well. The newspaper quickly tried to correct the error tweeting "UPDATE: Initial reports that body found in the Rockaways is former Nets basketball player Quinton Ross are incorrect," but it was too late. The story had already taken off on social media and was picked up by other media outlets.
So how did the mix-up happen? The confusion apparently started because the victim's name is also Quinton Ross. There is no relation between the two men. Law enforcement officials said Ross (not the athlete) had been reported missing last Thursday and they tracked his cellphone to help them locate the body.
The young man's aunt told reporters that her mother "saw these men chasing him" shortly before he went missing. Cops are still investigating the murder.
When the inaccurately published story was posted by the Post, the former NBA player was at a NIT game between LSU and SMU, the Huffington Post reports. He had no idea there were reports surfacing saying he had died and woke this morning to find several messages on his cellphone asking him if he was ok. After calming down his family and friends, Ross also posted a message on his Facebook, letting his fans know he was still alive.
