ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - Authorities say the death of a football player at Northern State University in Aberdeen was a suicide.
Sully County Sheriff Bill Stahl says 20-year-old Tate Senftner was found dead on New Year's Day in front of his parents' home in Onida. Stahl and County Coroner Mike Carlsen say that Senftner died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Senftner was a standout high school football player, earning all-state honors during his junior and senior seasons at Sully Buttes High School. He was a sophomore at Northern State, where he played linebacker.
NSU football coach Tom Dosch in a statement called Senftner "the epitome of a true student-athlete."
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