LSU football player Damien Shanklin under investigation for alleged rape

The East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office and campus police are investigating LSU defensive end Damien Shanklin following rape allegations made by a female student, Kendall Francis. The investigation follows Francis’s public account in a TikTok video, where she alleged the assault occurred in October.

Francis claims that after the incident, Shanklin’s mother requested she not press charges to protect his football career and that Shanklin provided $1,000 in ‘hush money.’ She further alleged that while the LSU Office of Civil Rights and Title IX found Shanklin accountable for ‘forcible rape,’ his initial one-year suspension was reduced to four semesters of probation upon appeal, allowing him to remain on campus and play football.

District Attorney Hillar Moore III has requested all relevant reports and evidence from LSU, campus police, and local law enforcement agencies. Attorneys for Shanklin have issued a statement asserting his innocence, claiming that social media reports do not provide a full account of the facts and circumstances surrounding the situation.