Well, this is certainly awful:

USC freshman point guard Ryan Francis was shot multiple times and killed early this morning while riding in a car in Baton Rouge, La., about a mile from his home.

Francis and three other passengers in the vehicle pulled up to a stoplight at an intersection in the northern part of the city about 3 a.m. The driver of an adjacent vehicle exited his car wielding a firearm, according to Lt. Keith Bates of the Baton Rouge Police Dept.

The driver of the vehicle Francis was riding in noticed the gunman and attempted to drive away, Bates said, but the assailant opened fire and Francis, sitting in the left-rear-passenger seat, was struck by multiple bullets. The 19-year-old died upon arrival at a trauma center several minutes later.

Police have arrested one suspect and “are leaving open the possibility of additional arrests,” Bates said. No one else in the vehicle was injured.

Francis had returned home after completing spring semester exams at USC.

“We’re all devastated,” Trojan Coach Tim Floyd said in a statement. “We’ve lost a special young man who in his short time at USC made an impression that will last forever. He was a wonderful young man, a fine student and a leader who was admired by his teammates. He came from a great family, he loved his mother and talked about her all the time. This is just so, so sad.”

Lightly recruited out of Baton Rouge Glen Oaks High, Francis made a major impact on a USC team that finished 17-13 and upset UCLA, North Carolina and Arizona. The 5-foot-11 guard averaged 7.1 points and ranked seventh in the Pacific 10 Conference in assists (111) and fifth in steals (47).

Last month at the team’s postseason banquet, Francis, who often guarded the opponent’s best player despite being significantly shorter, was given the John Rudometkin Award as the player who always gave 110% effort.

His teammates, including sophomore swingman Nick Young, a distant cousin, liked to tease Francis because of the way he continually addressed people as “sir” and “ma’am.”

“I told them to quit laughing at him when he does it because they need to pick up some of his manners,” said Floyd, a fellow Southerner.

Another tradition Francis held dear was his daily phone conversations with his mother, whom he called his “first lady.” They spoke two, sometimes three times a day.

“It’s, ‘Did you eat, take your vitamins?’.” Paulette Francis said earlier this year. “Just the motherly things you normally talk about.”

(Hat tip: Andrew Leyden.)

UPDATE: TrojanWire weighs in: “Our utmost condolences go out to his family, his friends and his teammates.” I echo that sentiment, obviously. What a tragedy.

They’re talking about this on the USC message boards. Also here.