Shortly after learning Louisville signee Dexter Rentz died in a shooting in Orlando, Shaquille O’Neal reached out to the family to help.
O’Neal, who lives in Orlando, spoke with Rentz’s parents and will pay for all funeral expenses, including a horse and carriage and custom-made casket.
“Whatever his mom wants,” O’Neal said Monday night.
Rentz was shot and killed late Saturday evening. He was 18. O’Neal saw a news report about Rentz on Sunday and wanted to learn more, watching his football highlights from Ocoee High School, where he was an all-around athlete on the football field and track standout. Rentz signed with Louisville in December.
“He was on his way, he really was,” O’Neal said. “I don’t know what it feels like to lose a son, but I know what it feels like to lose someone.
“This one hurts my heart. It really does. I wish things like this would never go on. It’s just so sad, and I want to be able to help his family. I wanted to take care of it.”
Rentz was one of four people shot, but the only one shot fatally. Orlando police continue to investigate the shooting but Rentz’s mother, Salisa Rentz Sinclair, told The Orlando Sentinel that her son was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the victim of a drive-by shooting intended for someone else.
She said Rentz was visiting his grandfather and in the car about to pull out of the driveway when he was shot. His brother, Derrick, was in the car with him and tried to save him.
“They [were] at my daddy’s house on Ellese Street, right across the street from, I guess, the apartment house where these guys were shooting,” Rentz Sinclair told The Sentinel. “These guys just were doing a drive-by and let off rounds. It hit Dexter, but it was not targeted for Dexter. He got shot on his left side. The guys let off over 15 rounds. … This was all from some rap beef, I guess.”