Sean Taylor dies

[Bengals1]

(AP) 3 Men Detained in Taylor Death Probe - (11/30/07)

MIAMI — Police have detained at least three people in the Fort Myers area for questioning in the death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor.

A law enforcement official in Lee County confirmed the men from the Fort Myers area were in custody, but requested anonymity because the investigation is being handled by Miami-Dade County police.

Miami-Dade police Detective Carlos Maura said he was not aware of anyone in custody. He said only that detectives were in the Fort Myers area for a case, but declined to say which one.

The Miami Herald, which first reported the development on its Web site, said investigators believe three suspects learned of Taylor's house through someone who unwittingly set up the burglary by bragging about his wealth. The suspects include two teenagers and a man in his 20s, all from the Fort Myers area, the paper reported.

Click here for additional reporting from MyFoxDC.com.

A telephone message left at the Florida City Police Department for the athlete's father, Chief Pedro Taylor, was not immediately returned.

RelatedStories

Police Suspect Random Burglar Killed Sean Taylor Police Without Suspect as Redskins Safety Sean Taylor Remembered Richard Sharpstein, a former Taylor lawyer and family friend, confirmed the law enforcement report.

"It's my understanding that three individuals are in custody. A house is being searched," Sharpstein said, without disclosing who had given him the information.

He repeated previous statements that the burglary did not appear to be random, and that the 24-year-old's house had been targeted.

Evidence at Taylor's home indicated one or more intruders barged into the house early Monday in an attempted burglary, Miami-Dade police director Robert Parker said Wednesday.

Taylor and longtime girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, were awakened by loud noises at Taylor's home in an affluent Miami suburb, Sharpstein has said. Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection, Sharpstein said, then someone broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor in the upper leg. Neither the couple's 18-month-old daughter, also named Jackie, nor Garcia were injured in the attack.

The bullet damaged the femoral artery in Taylor's leg, causing significant blood loss. Taylor never regained consciousness and died a little more than 24 hours later.

A public viewing for Taylor is scheduled Sunday in Miami, and the entire Redskins organization plans to fly to Florida to attend Monday's funeral at Pharmed Arena at Florida International University.

[Riagogogoindanati]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-r...p&type=lgns

[BengalszoneBilly]

(AP) 3 Men Detained in Taylor Death Probe - (11/30/07)

MIAMI — Police have detained at least three people in the Fort Myers area for questioning in the death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor.

A law enforcement official in Lee County confirmed the men from the Fort Myers area were in custody, but requested anonymity because the investigation is being handled by Miami-Dade County police.

Miami-Dade police Detective Carlos Maura said he was not aware of anyone in custody. He said only that detectives were in the Fort Myers area for a case, but declined to say which one.

The Miami Herald, which first reported the development on its Web site, said investigators believe three suspects learned of Taylor's house through someone who unwittingly set up the burglary by bragging about his wealth. The suspects include two teenagers and a man in his 20s, all from the Fort Myers area, the paper reported.

Click here for additional reporting from MyFoxDC.com.

A telephone message left at the Florida City Police Department for the athlete's father, Chief Pedro Taylor, was not immediately returned.

RelatedStories

Police Suspect Random Burglar Killed Sean Taylor Police Without Suspect as Redskins Safety Sean Taylor Remembered Richard Sharpstein, a former Taylor lawyer and family friend, confirmed the law enforcement report.

"It's my understanding that three individuals are in custody. A house is being searched," Sharpstein said, without disclosing who had given him the information.

He repeated previous statements that the burglary did not appear to be random, and that the 24-year-old's house had been targeted.

Evidence at Taylor's home indicated one or more intruders barged into the house early Monday in an attempted burglary, Miami-Dade police director Robert Parker said Wednesday.

Taylor and longtime girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, were awakened by loud noises at Taylor's home in an affluent Miami suburb, Sharpstein has said. Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection, Sharpstein said, then someone broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor in the upper leg. Neither the couple's 18-month-old daughter, also named Jackie, nor Garcia were injured in the attack.

The bullet damaged the femoral artery in Taylor's leg, causing significant blood loss. Taylor never regained consciousness and died a little more than 24 hours later.

A public viewing for Taylor is scheduled Sunday in Miami, and the entire Redskins organization plans to fly to Florida to attend Monday's funeral at Pharmed Arena at Florida International University.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-r...p&type=lgns

I'm glad the police seem to be making some headway here, but I still think this was premeditated.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Jason Whitlock blames the death of Sean Taylor on the "Black KKK" and Hip-Hop music!

I s**t you not.

[Bengals1]

Jason Whitlock blames the death of Sean Taylor on the "Black KKK" and Hip-Hop music!

I s**t you not.

Charles Barkley was interviewed yesterday on one of the sports programs (Jim Rome?) and he agreed that there is an element in the black community that doesn't want to see other blacks become successful.

He said that rather than trying to emulate the success of some blacks they simply get jealous and try to tear down or ridicule whoever makes it big in either the sports world or the entertainment industry. He said that often this jealousy becomes hatred and sometimes even becomes violent.

He too, said he wouldn’t be surprised that there was an element of this envy and jealousy in Sean Taylor’s murder, robbery or not.

[BengalszoneBilly]

This case is quickly coming together.

3 of 4 men arrested in slaying of Sean Taylor are charged

By MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press Writer

December 1, 2007

MIAMI (AP) -- Three suspects charged in the shooting death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor appeared in court by videoconference Saturday, with authorities and two of their lawyers saying that at least some of them have confessed.

Charles Wardlow, Eric Rivera and Venjah Hunte were denied bond in Fort Myers. All are charged with unpremeditated murder in Taylor's death, a killing police said was unplanned and arose out of a burglary at the player's home. A fourth suspect, Jason Mitchell, was arrested but had not yet been charged with any crime and did not appear in court.

Miami-Dade County police Director Robert Parker said the suspects didn't expect Taylor to be home when they broke in early Monday, but the Redskins safety was recuperating from a knee injury and had returned from Washington. When Taylor surprised them, he was shot.

"They were certainly not looking to go there and kill anyone," Parker said. "They were expecting a residence that was not occupied. So murder or shooting someone was not their initial motive."

Authorities said they had more than one confession, but Parker would not elaborate.

The four were arrested Friday in southwest Florida, about 100 miles from Miami.

Wilbur Smith, the attorney representing Rivera, said Saturday he expected a speedy resolution.

"Don't expect this to be a long, drawn-out thing," he told The News-Press of Fort Myers. "Because there are confessions, I believe this will be quickly resolved."

Smith said while some media reports have pegged his client as the one who pulled the trigger, he had not yet spoken extensively with the suspect to determine if that's true. He said his client was remorseful.

"It's an indescribable tragedy for the Taylor family, and it's a tragedy for the families of these other young men because their lives are down the tube," Smith said.

John Evans, the attorney representing Wardlow, said all four suspects most likely will be transported to Miami on Sunday.

"My client has not, I don't think, come to terms with what is being alleged," Evans told the AP on Saturday. "He's in a position, dressed in the orange jumpsuit over there in the county jail, thinking about his life and thinking about his future. You can only imagine the things going through his mind now."

The four suspects all have prior arrests, according to Lee County Sheriff's Office records.

Wardlow, 18, was arrested twice for selling marijuana and once for grand theft of a vehicle. Rivera, 17, has been arrested in October for trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine, and he previously was behind bars for altering the identification number on a firearm.

Hunte, 20, was arrested previously this year on drug and trespassing charges. And Mitchell, 19, has been arrested twice, most recently in October on charges of driving with a suspended license and violation of probation.

Richard Sharpstein, Taylor's former attorney, said he had not spoken with the victim's family regarding Friday's arrests, but said he doubted they provided any comfort.

"I know they are just saddened and appalled. The fact that they arrested his killer is no comfort to them," he said. "It probably inflames them more, because it tells them people were trying to steal from him. They are murderers. They should be treated like murderers and put in the Miami River and floated away."

The 24-year-old Pro Bowl player died Tuesday, one day after being shot at his home in an affluent Miami suburb during what officials said appeared to be an attempted burglary.

Police have been investigating a possible link to a Nov. 17 break-in at Taylor's home, during which they said someone pried open a front window, rifled through drawers and left a kitchen knife on a bed.

"We're looking into whether or not one or more of the individuals had been at the residence before," Parker said.

The Miami Herald reported that Mitchell and Wardlow had connections to Taylor. Mitchell cut Taylor's lawn and did other chores at the house, Mitchell's twin brother, Scottie, told the paper. Taylor's sister, Sasha Johnson, dates Wardlow's older cousin Christopher, and Scottie Mitchell told the paper the couple invited Jason Mitchell to Johnson's birthday party within the past two months.

A woman who identified herself as Jason Mitchell's mother told the Naples Daily News her son was at a birthday party at Sean Taylor's home a couple months ago. She also said her son was at home all week and last weekend.

"I don't know where he's at, I don't know why he's being held," she told the Naples paper. "No parent should see this happen to their child."

O'Brien would not confirm the reports when contacted by The Associated Press.

Taylor and his longtime girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, were awakened early Monday by loud noises at his home in an affluent Miami suburb. Taylor grabbed a machete he kept in the bedroom for protection, Sharpstein said. Someone broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor in the upper leg. Neither the couple's 18-month-old daughter, also named Jackie, nor Garcia were injured.

The bullet damaged the femoral artery in Taylor's leg, causing significant blood loss. Taylor never regained consciousness and died a little more than 24 hours later.

"They targeted him for his wealth," Sharpstein said. "It makes his death even more pathetic, unnecessary and just actually disgusting."

A public viewing for Taylor is scheduled Sunday in Miami, and the entire Redskins organization plans to fly to Florida to attend Monday's funeral at Pharmed Arena at Florida International University.

The Redskins also announced that fans attending Sunday's game will receive a towel with Taylor's No. 21 jersey on it, and his name will be displayed prominently in an end zone.

Redskins owner Dan Snyder said the team will contribute a minimum of $500,000 to a fund to benefit Taylor's daughter, and he released a statement late Friday acknowledging the arrests.

"This is another step, but not a conclusion, in a very personal and painful tragedy," he said. "I also want to thank everyone who has joined us in mourning the loss of Sean. People from all over the world contacted the Redskins to share our grief and offer their prayers for Sean and his family. We will never forget the courage his family, especially Jackie, Pete and Donna, have shown. Their composure has been a source of strength for us all."

[Riagogogoindanati]

From personal experience. My husband is black. He grew up poor in the hood in Akron Ohio. He did have loving and emotionally supportive parents, although they divorced when he was a youngster. One thing he always had was supervision and guidance in his life by his mother AND father. To this day they are still there for him, and now us. He worked his ass off putting himself thru college. It took him almost 10 years but he graduated with 2 Bachelor degrees and is currently on track to graduate with his MBA in the Spring. There is nothing "mainstream" black about him. He dresses well and has persued a white collar lifestyle. I praise him everyday for what a strong MAN he is. The criticism he has endured has only been from some of the "boys" he grew up with. Not only is he no longer a "boy" he has grown into a solid productful adult. It can be done.......here is living proof.

[Bengals1]

I will be the first to admit this looked for all the world like a "hit" to me and I was suspecious of the randomness of this crime right from the get-go.

It now looks like I was totally wrong. I'm actually glad. Senseless as it was, I would rather believe Sean was killed by a burgler than targeted for a "hit."

I hope these thugs go down for a very....very long time.

[HairOnFire]

I will be the first to admit this looked for all the world like a "hit" to me and I was suspecious of the randomness of this crime right from the get-go.

It now looks like I was totally wrong. I'm actually glad. Senseless as it was, I would rather believe Sean was killed by a burgler than targeted for a "hit."

The facts as they were presented certainly made it sound like a premeditated hit, but even though Taylor appears blameless it wasn't really a random crime. Taylor knew as many as three of the four suspects now arrested, and his success made him a target.

Again, I think we're all going to have to reconsider our feelings about athletes carrying firearms.

[Bengals1]

I will be the first to admit this looked for all the world like a "hit" to me and I was suspecious of the randomness of this crime right from the get-go.

It now looks like I was totally wrong. I'm actually glad. Senseless as it was, I would rather believe Sean was killed by a burgler than targeted for a "hit."

The facts as they were presented certainly made it sound like a premeditated hit, but even though Taylor appears blameless it wasn't really a random crime. Taylor knew as many as three of the four suspects now arrested, and his success made him a target.

Again, I think we're all going to have to reconsider our feelings about athletes carrying firearms.

Yes, I agree.

It appears that at least one of the suspects visited his home during a party that took place some weeks earlier and "cased" it. They came back several times believing he had wads of money stashed someplace but failed to find any. They then broke in when they didn't believe he was home only to find him very much there and in a panic shot him resulting in his untimely death.

Now, why they bothered to bring a firearm along when they claim they didn't expect him to be home is still a mystery. But it wasn't a "hit", no one was there that night to take Sean out deliberately and that's exactly what it seemed like in the first 24 hours, at least to me.

It now appears I jumped to conclusions.