A 14-year-old boy from Indiana was killed while playing basketball with his younger sister. Nolan Gerwels was shooting hoops at an indoor gym when the rim and backboard came loose from the wall and fell on top of him. He suffered head injuries and was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
"Obviously this is an extremely unusual event, so we’re doing a little bit of investigation in terms of just exactly how the goal and the support bracket for it was anchored to the wall," St. Joseph County Police Assistant Chief Bill Thompson told IndyStar.
Nolan was an honors student at Discovery Middle School and was working hard to try to make the freshman basketball team in the fall.
"He was first chair percussionist with Discovery Honors Band. He loved sports; he played baseball with Harris Storm as well as basketball with Discovery Middle School and with Tipping Point, where he played point guard," the young boy's obituary read.
"This is horrific and overwhelming," Nolan's mother said. "We are a close family, so everyone bears this heavy weight of his absence. He was so, so loved by everyone."
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