Former basketball player’s death ruled a homicide

Tyler Bradley Richards was found dead in a home on Cook Avenue on April 17. (CTV Atlantic)

Halifax Regional Police confirm the death of a well-known Halifax-area basketball player has been ruled a homicide.

Police responded to a home in the 6900 block of Cook Avenue, near the Halifax Shopping Centre, just before 8 p.m. Sunday.

Officers found the body of 29-year-old Tyler Bradley Richards inside the home. At the time, police said they were treating his death as suspicious.

“Any death that occurs outside a hospital is investigated by police until deemed otherwise,” said Const. Dianne Woodworth of the Halifax Regional Police.

An autopsy conducted Monday confirmed that Richards was the victim of a homicide, but police have not said how he died.

Richards grew up in Halifax’s Mulgrave Park and went on to play basketball at St. Francis Xavier University from 2004 to 2009.

“Tyler was a great basketball player, a great teammate, and a solid student,” said Steve Konchalski, St. FX basketball’s head coach. “Unfortunately, somewhere his life went off the tracks.”

“I was totally devastated,” said Irvine Carvery, who was Richards’ coach at St. Patrick’s High School. “I was very close to Tyler.”

Richards later played for the former Halifax Rainmen, until he was suspended after being charged with assault in 2013. He was also charged with drug trafficking and weapons-related crimes that year.

Richards was recently charged with cocaine trafficking, possession of cannabis resin and breach of probation following a traffic stop by police last month.

"It's just a real tragedy that this has happened," Konchalski said. "Regardless of the choices he made, the bottom line is that we've lost a friend and his family has lost a son and his little girl has lost her father."

There has been a police presence at the Cook Avenue home, where Richards was found dead, since Sunday evening.

Investigators returned to the scene Tuesday morning.

So far, no arrests have been made.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell