Shaquille O'Neal pays for funeral of woman killed outside high school graduation, sheriff says

JONESBORO, Ga. — The Clayton County Sheriff's Office said former NBA player Shaquille O'Neal has stepped up to pay for the funeral of a woman who was shot and killed outside a high school graduation last week.

Investigators said a fight broke out May 18 in a parking lot of Mt. Zion High School as a graduation ceremony ended at the Clayton County Performing Arts Center across the street in Jonesboro, Georgia.

The parking lot where the shooting happened was an overflow lot for the graduation ceremony.

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The argument led to two women being shot, one of them fatally.

Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill said that not long after hearing about the shooting, O’Neal reached out to him to see if the victim’s family needed help.

“The length of his heart far exceeds his height,” Hill said in a Thursday news release. “We never ask him for anything, but when he sees a need, he is Johnny on the spot!”

Investigators said a third woman, who was pregnant, was thrown to the ground during the incident, but she was expected to be OK.

Two people were arrested the next day for the shooting incident.

O'Neal has a special connection with the Clayton County Sheriff's Office. In December 2016, he was named an honorary deputy by Hill. Hill said the two of them have been friends ever since.

Cox Media Group