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Record-breaking college long jumper Tony Martin shot and killed aged 19

<span>Photograph: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

Tony Martin, a record-breaking long jumper for Michigan State, has been shot and killed at the age of 19.

Martin shattered Michigan’s long jump record with a leap of 26ft 6in (8.07m) while still in high school. The jump tied one of Olympic legend Carl Lewis’s marks for the seventh longest of all-time, according to Mile Split USA. He made his debut for Michigan State in December and also competed in the 60m and 200m.

Police in Saginaw, where Martin grew up, said he was shot and killed outside a gas station in the early hours of Sunday morning. They are now investigating his death as part of a double homicide.

“He was an easy-going guy,” his high school coach DeEddie Sanders told the Detroit Free Press. “He always did his schoolwork, and he never missed school … He loved track. He was a good guy, never got in trouble.”

Michigan State’s track and field team confirmed Martin’s death on Twitter. MSU’s cross-state rivals, Michigan, also posted a tribute on Twitter saying they were “heartbroken” at the killing.