LAS VEGAS, CA - JUNE 13: Bull rider Ouncie Mitchell, of Houston, Texas., gives a cowboy a hand shake as he settles into the bucking chute before his final ride at the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo on Sunday, June 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, CA. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
A professional bull rider was reportedly shot dead by his on-again off-again girlfriend after competing in a tournament in Utah Monday, and now she’s sitting behind bars and being held without bond in his killing.
Known professionally as “Ouncie Mitchell,” Demetrius Omar Lateef Allen, 27, was discovered with “at least one gunshot wound” outside an apartment belonging to 21-year-old LaShawn Denise Bagley, according to Fox 13 Now.
He’s survived by a 4-year-old daughter, who’s mother was his previous partner named Nyteshea Haywood.
Bagley has since been charged with first-degree murder and third-degree felony discharge of a firearm, the outlet reports.
Prior to his death, Allen had traveled to Salt Lake City from Houston to compete at a rodeo at the Utah State Fair, and was set to stay with Begley while there.
Salt Lake City Police described their relationship as “on-again off-again”
The couple actually attended the fair and rodeo together and later left to go to a nearby bar, where they got into an argument.
Allen allegedly said he wanted to go back to her place to get his things and leave, police said, and was fatally shot after arriving back at Bagley’s apartment, court documents read.
An investigation uncovered that it took place in the parking lot of the apartment, with there being “no indication of any forced entry or attempted forced entry into the apartment,” police went on to say.
A witness similarly told police that Allen did not attempt to force his way into Bagley’s apartment.
Evidence shows that she fired multiple rounds through the glass door, and hit Allen in the torso according to a report obtained by FOX 13.
Allen was rushed to a nearly hospital where he was later pronounced dead, the outlet reports.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has Allen ranked number 23rd in the world as a bull rider.
The commissioner and CEO of Professional Bull Riders, Sean Gleason, called Ouncie “a talented cowboy,” and said it was hard to understand his death, adding “he would give the shirt off his back to anybody, why would you take his life away?”
“I don’t understand and I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to understand,” Mitchell said. “The guy that would give the shirt off his back to anybody, why would you take his life away?
Every time I put my hand on a bull rope from now on it’ll be him right there in the back of my mind. He was a once-in-a-lifetime person and a once-in-a-lifetime family member and friend and more so, a brother.”
Gleason noted the meaning behind Allen’s nickname “Ouncie Mitchell.”
“Ouncie got his name because he was born small,” Gleason said. “He grew up to compete with a huge heart.”
Meanwhile, authorities called the incident isolated and said it was related to a domestic disputed between Bagley and Allen, and there was “no threat to the public at this time.”
Bagley is being held at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail without bond.
An investigation into the deadly shooting remains ongoing, according to detectives at the Salt Lake City Police Department.
This is the tenth homicide in Salt Lake City for 2022.
