2nd College Of The Desert Athlete Tied To Suspected Burglary

A second College of the Desert football player was tied Friday to a burglary that ended with a sheriff’s deputy fatally shooting another athlete.

Roman Tausaga, 22, was arrested on felony burglary and robbery charges Thursday night, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Angel Ramos said. Tausaga was one of three suspected burglars spotted running from the Desert Fountains apartment complex in the 77-800 block of Michigan Drive just after midnight Thursday, investigators told the Desert Sun.

One of the other men – Frank Tanuvasa, 20, a sophomore on the football team – struggled with a deputy, who fatally shot him, Ramos said.

Tausaga and the third man got away, and Ramos declined to say Friday whether investigators know his name.

Friends said Tausaga lived with Tanuvasa in Palm Desert. Tausaga was the team’s leading tackler in 2009 but sat out last year. College of the Desert Athletic Director Dean Dowty, who is also head coach of the football team, referred questions Thursday to spokeswoman Pam Hunter, who did not return a phone message Friday after.

In the hours after Tanuvasa was shot and killed, dozens of friends flooded Twitter with messages about the “gentle giant.” That he was killed during a burglary attempt seemed uncharacteristic for the young man from Anchorage, Alaska, friends said Friday. They said he was known for his impressive afro, his politeness and the hint of his Samoan heritage in the way he talked.

Most of all, though, Tanuvasa was known for his size: At 6 feet 6 inches tall and about 370 pounds, he had earned the name “Frank the Tank” for his bulldozing of opposing linemen. At 16, he could bench 325 pounds, according to a 2007 story in the Anchorage Daily News that described Tanuvasa as “bone- crushing,” “colossal” and gargantuan.

“Frank Tanuvasa was a good man with a big heart who helped anybody with anything that they needed help with,” childhood friend Joshua Afatia of Anchorage said. “He was a gentle giant and was a heck of a football player.”