A pair of football players who shot a teenage ‘mugger’ dead were acting in self-defense, police say.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jared Small, teammates on the Louisiana State University (LSU) football team, reportedly met Kobe Johnson, 18, to sell him a piece of electrnic equipment Saturday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – but the encounter became violent when Johnson tried to rob the athletes.

Johnson allegedly pulled out a weapon and demanded their belongings, police said.