Ex-LSU player meets with police as part of murder investigation

Former LSU offensive lineman La’el Collins was interviewed by Louisiana police for more than an hour Monday about the shooting death of a pregnant woman in Baton Rouge.

Collins met with Baton Rouge police homicide detectives at Louisiana State Police headquarters as part of a murder investigation in which Collins’ former girlfriend was killed.

Collins, an All-SEC lineman who was considered a possible first-round pick before the murder investigation scared off NFL teams, was not selected during the 2015 NFL Draft. He is now classified as an undrafted free agent, which also means he can redo a contract after two years.

Collins, who hopes to clear his name so he can find an NFL team, did not speak as he left the police building Monday accompanied by his attorney, Jim Boren.

“It went fine; we answered all their questions,” Boren told the Times-Picayune. “La’el is not going to make any comments. I’m not going to have any comments. The investigation is going to continue. La’el is now going to start making an effort to start getting his football career back on track.”

Collins’ former girlfriend, 29-year-old Brittney Mills, was shot to death April 24 after opening the front door of her Baton Rouge home. She died of multiple shots to her torso and her unborn child survived the shooting but died a week later in the hospital.

Collins has been wanted for questioning for more than a week, but police confirmed Monday that Collins is not a suspect. Police have not publicly said if they have a suspect or a motive in the crime.

“I think he’s not a suspect. He answered all the questions they had. Every question,” Boren said. “We didn’t claim the fifth (amendment). We answered every single question. We gave them all the information they asked for. He’s ready to get his life back.”

Collins left the NFL Draft in Chicago on Wednesday to return to Baton Rouge. The NFL on Thursday denied a request by Collins to be removed from draft consideration and allowed to enter the supplemental draft in the summer.

Washington Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan was asked about Collins.

“I don’t want to discuss that right now,” McCloughan said Monday morning. “It’s a very sad situation where it’s at, but we’ll let the courts take care of everything and the police take care of everything, but I’m pulling for him.”