An argument between former Olympian and track and field champion Emmit King and another man erupted in gunfire over the weekend, leaving both men dead, authorities in Alabama said Monday.
King, 62, was pronounced dead at a hospital Sunday afternoon, said William Yates, the chief deputy coroner of Jefferson County.
The other man, Willie Wells, 60, died at the scene, Yates said.
A police spokesman in Bessemer, where the shooting occurred, said officers responded to reports of gunfire at 3:40 p.m. and found King and Wells, both of whom had been shot.
Witnesses said the pair were arguing when each grabbed a gun and fired at the other.
It wasn’t clear what the argument was about, and additional details weren’t immediately available.
King, who attended the University of Alabama, was the 1983 NCAA national champion in the 100-meter sprint. The same year, he won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland.
King was twice on the U.S. Olympic relay team — in 1984 in Los Angeles and in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea — but he didn’t compete.
