Report: Coroner rules Honeycutt death a suicide

The Los Angeles County coroner's office officially declared the death of former UCLA and Sacramento Kings forward Tyler Honeycutt a suicide following an investigation, USA Today reported Thursday.

Honeycutt died at the scene of a nine-hour standoff and shootout with Los Angeles police in the early morning of July 7, eight days before he would have turned 28. Per the report, the coroner's office completed its autopsy and closed the case, calling his death a suicide because of a gunshot wound to the head.

The shootout happened at Honeycutt's home in Sherman Oaks.

It was initially unclear whether police shot Honeycutt or he shot himself, but the LAPD tweeted on July 7 that "it appears as if the suspect was not struck by any officer's gunfire. The suspect appears to have sustained injuries consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound."

According to the LAPD's Twitter feed, police had responded to a call of a man in his 20s with a gun. The suspect barricaded himself, according to the LAPD, and "as were communicating with the suspect an [officer-involved shooting] occurred."

The LAPD later tweeted "We can confirm that during the initial encounter the suspect fired a shot out of the residence and officers returned fire." He was pronounced dead at the scene.

After playing two seasons at UCLA, from 2009-11, Honeycutt was drafted by the Kings in the second round of the 2011 NBA Draft. He played in 24 games over two seasons in the NBA, averaging 1.2 points and 1.0 rebounds per game. His last NBA season was 2012-13.

He played overseas beginning in 2013, playing as recently as last season for BC Khimki in Moscow.

--Field Level Media