HOUSTON — Jurors sentenced the man who gunned down the cousin of University of Houston basketball star Jamal Shead to 63 years in prison.
Greg Shead was 24 when he died outside a west Houston bowling alley more than a year and a half ago.
Shead was shot and killed when a large fight broke out in the parking lot of the Bowlero on Bunker Hill Road. Family members said he was trying to protect his loved ones.
It happened in August 2022 and Dionte Banks, who was 29 at the time of his arrest, was taken into custody and charged with murder two weeks later. He was captured in Dallas.
Shead graduated from Atascocita High School, where he was a star basketball player. He left behind an 11-month-old daughter.
Shead had recently moved to California, but was back in Houston the weekend of his death, his grandfather, Jesse Shead, said shortly after the shooting. Jesse Shead said family members at the bowling alley told him his grandson was trying to protect his mother and sisters when he was shot.
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"Greg was fun to be around. He was real laughable -- he liked to have fun," Jesse Shead said. "We loved him dearly."
Greg Shead was known for his passion for health and fitness and had a large following on social media.
He was a cousin to University of Houston basketball star Jamal Shead, according to Greg Shead's father.