Via  KLFY.com: 

NBA legend and Acadiana’s favorite son Shaquille O’Neal opened up his heart and his wallet Saturday to help pay funeral expenses for Keshon Batiste, an 11-year-old from Breaux Bridge, who was killed in a car crash Friday, April 10.

Batiste, and 12-year-old Trayvon Alexander were backseat passengers in a vehicle that crashed into a ditch and struck a tree.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Shaq’s good friend and former cheif deputy for the Lafayette Parish Marshal’s office Phil Conrad tells KLFY that the former NBA star learned of the tragedy through the local news media.

He said Shaq was also sent a link to the Batiste family’s GoFundMe account that had been set up to help with the funeral cost.

“He (Shaq) called me and asked me to reach out to the family on his behalf, and get back with him.” Conrad said.

“When I called him back and told him that the family had raised over $3k in a GoFundMe, but was still short of what they needed, he immediately stopped what he was doing and sent the money to me, and I wrote out a check.”

Conrad said Shaq was willing to take care of all of the expenses for both families, however the Alexander family had insurance.

“He’s a big man, and his heart is even bigger.” Conrad said.

Over the years, O’Neal has reached out after learning of similar situations, but he’s opted to kept a low profile about it.

Back in November 2009 he paid for the funeral of a five-year-old North Carolina girl who was kidnapped and killed. 

The hall of famer also paid for the burial services of a 13-year-old Georgia boy who accidentally shot and killed himself while playing with a loaded gun as he was live on Instagram in April 2017. 

And just last December he paid for the funeral of a seven-year-old girl in Texas who was shot and killed while driving with her mother and three sisters. 

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