Nets Superfan Jeffrey Gamblero Dies After Fall
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Barclays Center just won't be the same.
Jeffrey Vanchiro -- better known as Jeffrey Gamblero, the dancing Brooklyn Nets superfan -- died Sunday after a reported fall from a second-floor window. He was 38.
"On behalf of ownership and the entire organization, I am terribly saddened to learn about Jeffrey's death," Nets and Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark said in a statement. "A proud Brooklynite, Jeffrey was a passionate Nets fan and one of our most visible and loyal supporters. I was delighted that he joined the team on our trip to London last season and always enjoyed his enthusiasm while dancing and cheering during Nets games at Barclays Center. The entire organization expresses our deepest condolences to his family and friends. He will be missed."
Vanchiro made headlines earlier this month when he was carried out of a Nets-Knicks game at Madison Square Garden without his prosthetic leg.
His fiancee, Kristi Evans, told ESPN that he "was a completely different person" after the incident at MSG.
"He was paranoid. He was erratic," she said. "He was frightened. He was horrified. He was a bit delusional. And he was having a lot of trouble sleeping. He couldn't sleep at all. When he would sleep or try to sleep, it would only take about 10 to 15 minutes before he would wake up screaming, covered in sweat."
Vanchiro reportedly jumped from a second-story window Saturday night at his father's home in Flushing. He "sustained severe brain damage and a fractured spinal cord," according to ESPN, and died at New York Hospital Queens the following day.
"He's never, ever exhibited any suicidal tendencies," Evans told ESPN. "He jumped out of the bed, ran down the hallway ... and then threw himself out of a window headfirst and landed on his head."
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