Former Simeon basketball player Saieed Ivey found dead in LA

Former Simeon basketball player Saieed Ivey was found dead in Los Angeles County on Thursday, his 20th birthday.

Monterey Park Police responded to a call of a shot fired early Thursday morning at an apartment complex at 855 W. El Repetto and found Ivey in a car, dead of a gunshot wound.

Ivey was a basketball player at East Los Angeles College.

“They are keeping me outside of the crime scene, and I haven’t been able to get any information,” said East Los Angeles basketball coach John Mosley. “I don’t know why it happened. It’s something I’ve never been a part of with such a great human being.”

Ivey, a 2014 Simeon graduate, played basketball at Governors State in the 2014-15 school year but didn’t play last season.

“He sat out this year to focus on school,” Mosley said. “He was getting ready to play for us next season.”

Monterey Park Police said the case is not an officer-related shooting and is being considered a homicide. The case will be handled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

“He was an impressive kid,” -local scout Daniel Poneman said. “He played in my showcase, so I got to know him. Just a bright kid. He really wanted to play Division I basketball, so he found himself a spot at a junior college and was doing everything he could to make it -happen.”

Ivey didn’t play a lot at Simeon, but he was a popular member of the city’s basketball community.

“He was like brothers with [former Simeon teammates] Jaylon Tate and Kendrick Nunn,” Simeon coach Robert Smith said. “They were together all day, every day.”

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Email: mobrien@suntimes.com