Police: Southern Miss player took own life

Published 2:01 am Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Tennessee police say an 18-year-old walk-on punter at the University of Southern Mississippi committed suicide.

Union City special police investigator Derrick Odell said Monday that Peter Wilkes died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Wilkes of Union City died Saturday, four days after the shooting at his home.

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Wilkes had not played this season. Coach Larry Fedora says Wilkes was home on fall break to help pick out a headstone for his father’s grave. His father died of a heart attack over the summer.

Fedora says Wilkes had decided to continue school and that “it was a dream that he had and his dad had for him.”

He called him a great kid with a great attitude.