Northwestern State football player shot and killed

A Northwestern State football player was shot and killed on Thursday morning in Louisiana.

Natchitoches police were dispatched to a street nearby the Northwestern State campus in Natchitoches, La. after 911 callers reported hearing gunshots in the area.

Police arrived and found junior safety Ronnie Caldwell suffering from gunshot wounds. He was later pronounced dead.

Northwestern State announced that they have canceled their game against Nicholls State, which was scheduled for Saturday.

Caldwell had not played this season due to injury. He appeared in all 11 of the team’s games last season and started 10 of them, recording 42 total tackles.

The 21-year-old Caldwell had transferred to Northwestern State from Tyler Junior College. He was majoring in business administration and had made the Southland Conference Commissioner’s Fall Honor Roll in 2022 for having a GPA greater than 3.0 while competing in a sport.