MEMPHIS, TN -
By Anna Marie Hartman - bio | email
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - While Lorenzen Wright's family mourns his violent death, they are expected to cooperate in the investigation of his murder. Friday, the investigation led homicide detectives to the home of Lorenzen Wright's father, Herb Wright.
Meanwhile, a lifelong friend of Wright, along with Wright's girlfriend, mourned the basketball star.
Police question woman
Just before 1:00 p.m. Friday, two Memphis police investigators, including Sergeant Kevin Lundy, along with a uniformed officer, arrived at Herb Wright's home.
Wright, who has been in a wheelchair since gunfire severed his spinal chord in 1983, came outside to greet officers. After a brief conversation, Wright let the officers into his home. The patrolman went in first, followed by the two investigators.
A few moments later, a woman's screams could be heard coming from inside the home. The tone was tearful, and blood curdling.
Within minutes, the investigators emerged. With them was a woman - a relative of Wright's, we're told - wearing a purple top and black pants.
Without handcuffs, the woman was placed in an unmarked police car and taken in for questioning. Her role in the investigation is unclear.
Also Friday, investigators examined surveillance video from businesses surrounding the barber shop Wright frequented, amid conflicting stories about whether Wright was there the day he died.
As friends and loved ones come to terms with Wright's death, many of them are being kept in the dark about the investigation.
Wright's lifelong friend and girlfriend react to his murder
Friday, Action News 5 spoke with Wright's girlfriend, and a lifelong friend he was living with in Atlanta.
In photos posted online, a smiling Lorenzen Wright posed in front of a web cam with his girlfriend, Alexis Bradley.
Bradley, who posted the photos to her Facebook page, said the photos were taken one day before Wright disappeared. The photos were later re-posted by Sportscasm.com.
By phone Friday, Action News 5 asked Bradley if she could talk about those final hours with her boyfriend.
"No ma'am, I really don't want to speak to the media," she replied. "I haven't done so at all, and I'm just continuing to not have anything to say."
But Wright's Atlanta roommate, Michael Gipson, did talk about what he's going through.
"I'm just hurting right now," he said. "I feel like I lost part of me, like I lost my brother, you know?"
Gipson, who knew Wright since he was nine, lived with him in an Atlanta suburb. He spoke with investigators when Wright disappeared.
"I've been trying to help them as much as I could," he said. "I just don't have any answers. Nobody does right now."
Gibson said the toughest part about grieving is hearing all the rumors that paint his lifelong friend in a bad light.
"Some of the stuff we're reading and hearing about, I can't see him getting him mixed up in something like that, but you know, I guess everything is going to come out pretty soon," he said.
"I'm hating that he's been tarnished like this, but my God, I don't know. "It's just awful."
Gipson said he speaks with Wright's mother daily, and will be traveling to Memphis in a couple of days. Neither Gipson or Alexis Bradley were aware of whether funeral arrangements for Wright have been finalized.
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Friday, police visited the home of Lorenzen Wright's father, Herb Wright.
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