The gun that killed Washington Redskins football star Sean Taylor was stuffed in a white sock and flung into the Everglades soon after the shooting, according to a new account from an attorney for one of the men accused in the homicide case.
NFL
Pedro Taylor said his son told him during the summer he wanted to stake his claim as one of the young, dominant safeties in the NFL by making the Pro Bowl again this February.
Sean Taylor was honored Friday night at the Citrus Bowl, selected as one of the 33 players to make the Florida High School Athletic Association's All-Century Team.
One of four men arrested in connection with last week's slaying of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor was involved in an earlier break-in at the football player's home, say law enforcement sources familiar with the case.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John W. Thornton Jr. ordered Eric Rivera Jr., 17, remain in jail without bond Wednesday on first-degree murder and armed burglary charges in connection with the death of pro football player Sean Taylor.
Local prep school phenom, University of Miami standout, National Football League All-Pro. Fame, wealth, abundant talent dashing toward new goals. And now, premature death, a memorial service, a burial.
They walked one by one, side by side, into Florida International University's Pharmed Arena -- well scrubbed, well dressed and pensive.
Do you know how much this hurts? Do you have any idea? At this point in an NFL season, after months of collisions and violence and pills and pain-killers, the body is several steps beyond weary. Just getting up and out of bed on a Monday morning by itself is an exercise in strength and will and overcoming. It is why NFL teams have Tuesday off instead of Mondays. Coaches want the healing blood to start circulating after another savage Sunday game, with at least some light activity, and know their...
THE BURIAL
They came from all over to say goodbye to Sean Taylor at FIU's Pharmed Arena Monday afternoon. But in the end, it was his family, his 18-month old daughter and his longtime girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, who were the last ones to pay their final respects at a local cemetery and private burial.
INVESTIGATION
As detectives hunted for a fifth suspect in Sean Taylor's death Monday, the defense attorney for one defendant said his client was recruited only as a driver and knew nothing of the burglary plan.
This was, arguably, the toughest road trip in Washington Redskins history. Fifty-three Redskins players and a few hundred staff members stepped off their charter flight from Washington to Miami International Airport on Monday morning, most of them in stylish dark suits, a No. 21 pin on their left lapels, their weary eyes hidden behind expensive sunglasses. They boarded six buses, bound for Pharmed Arena at Florida International University, where their 24-year-old murdered teammate, Sean Taylor, waited...
SEAN TAYLOR | 1983-2007
Sean Taylor found greater fame after college in the National Football League. But one thing he dreamed of was a diploma from the University of Miami, his girlfriend Jackie Garcia said Sunday night at a candlelight vigil for the slain football star.
LANDOVER, Md. -- A football defeat such as this one might have counted as heartache, on another day, on another field, for another team. It's just that the Washington Redskins have learned enough about genuine heartache the past week -- too, too much -- to know that nothing measured on a scoreboard can remotely qualify.
And once again, this is how we die. Fallen, crumpled, bleeding from a bullet's hole. Woman and child left to wail, left to mourn. Left.
A fourth man charged in the shooting death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor appeared in court Sunday and, like his co-defendants, was denied bond.
SEAN TAYLOR | 1983-2007
Constance Dingle stood outside her house less than 48 hours after Sean Taylor's death -- a ringing cordless phone in one hand, a beeping cellphone in the other -- receiving condolences and fretting about funeral arrangements for her murdered grandson.
DEATH OF SEAN TAYLOR
Police say four suspected burglars from across Alligator Alley were responsible for the slaying of NFL star Sean Taylor -- and relatives of one suspect said he had attended a birthday party held at the football player's home.
One murder suspect is the son of a youth football coach. Another is a twin who, at 19, has a 4-year-old son. A third is a high school quarterback now in the same jail as his father -- who was convicted of murder earlier this year.
Sean Taylor's father, Pedro Taylor, said Friday afternoon that the family has created a scholarship in honor of his son and his granddaughter, which will help students at Gulliver Prep, Florida International University and the University of Miami, where Sean played football.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
If there is a ''better place,'' we can hope Sean Taylor has found it. Whatever ''rest in peace'' means, we can hope his soul has found that place, too.
Miami-Dade police and prosecutors have arrested four people in connection with this week's slaying of NFL star Sean Taylor. The men: Jason Mitchell, 19, Eric Rivera, 17, Charles Wardlow, 18 and Venjah Hunte, 20. They will be charged with murder.
As Sean Taylor's funeral arrangements were set for Monday, his family flew to Washington to talk to teammates and Miami Gulliver Prep honored their former star.
I'm proud of this ridiculous thing I do for a living. It makes me happy. It is a lot of arrested-development fun. And it gives me the kind of power and platform I don't really deserve.
DOLPHINS NOTEBOOK
Dolphins offensive tackle Vernon Carey, a teammate of Sean Taylor's at the University of Miami, said what he remembers about Taylor was his competitiveness.
A sample of comments from national columnists regarding the death of Sean Taylor: It wasn't long after avoiding jail time and holding on to his football career that [Sean] Taylor essentially said, ''That's it, I'm out,'' to the world of glamorized violence he seemed comfortable negotiating earlier. Anybody you talk to, from coach Joe Gibbs to Jeremy Shockey, his college teammate, will cite chapter and verse as to how Taylor was changing his life in obvious ways every day. He had a daughter he took...
A sample of comments from readers on MiamiHerald.com regarding the death of Sean Taylor: `What a waste of life. My sympathy to his girlfriend Jackie and their baby daughter. If the law does not catch this killer, God will take care of him. Remember, no one is bad enough to hide from the Good Lord.'
After clinging to life nearly 24 hours, Washington Redskins Pro Bowl safety Sean Taylor succumbed to a bullet wound to the leg about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Shot Monday morning at his Palmetto Bay home, he died before he could speak to detectives. They are treating his death as a homicide.
The funeral service for slain Washington Redskins football player Sean Taylor is tentatively scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday -- possibly a bit later if the Redskins can't make it early enough -- at the Pharmed Arena on the University Park campus of Florida International University, FIU athletic director Pete Garcia said Wednesday afternoon.
The death of football player Sean Taylor sent pangs Tuesday through the many lives he touched: coaches and teammates at Miami Gulliver Prep, the University of Miami and the Washington Redskins, and countless fans and friends across the country.
MEDICINE
A gunshot to the femoral artery -- like the one suffered Monday by football star Sean Taylor -- can quickly spiral out of control, with a person losing 20 percent of his blood in a matter of minutes, doctors say.
reacts to Sean Taylor tragedy Basketball wasn't the only thing on the minds of Heat and Bobcats players entering Tuesday's game. The death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was a topic of discussion in both locker rooms. Taylor, a former University of Miami star, died early Tuesday morning, a day after he was shot by an intruder at his Palmetto Bay home. Charlotte players Gerald Wallace, Emeka Okafor and Jason Richardson discussed news reports of Taylor's death as they shot free throws at...
Miami-Dade Police Director Robert Parker said he believes the killing of NFL star Sean Taylor in his Miami-Dade home this week was ''random'' and vowed to aggressively pursue the investigation.
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
University of Miami football coach Randy Shannon said in a prepared statement Tuesday that he was ``devastated over the loss of Sean Taylor.''
Actor Andy Garcia hailed his niece's slain boyfriend, NFL star Sean Taylor, as a ''free safety until the end'' who showed bravery in the last moments of his life to protect his family.
Sean Taylor was never very subtle on a football field. As a teenage tailback at Miami Gulliver Prep, he roared his way into the consciousness of South Florida football fans by breaking the state record for touchdowns with 44 -- the final three accomplished in the state championship victory against Marianna his senior season.
SEAN TAYLOR TRAGEDY
George Mira Jr. saw his share of violent hits and bloody injuries as a linebacker for the University of Miami and the San Francisco 49ers. But none of those images compared to the scene he walked in on at the Palmetto Bay home of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor early Monday morning.
Sean Taylor became the latest former University of Miami player to be touched by tragedy when he was shot in his home Monday. Ten other incidents during the past two decades:
The shooting of NFL star Sean Taylor has now turned into a high-profile murder investigation, with homicide detectives searching for leads from Palmetto Bay to Perrine to try to piece together a crime that has garnered national attention.
Dressed in black and clutching her 18-month-old baby, Jackie Garcia paid a tearful visit Tuesday to the family of her slain boyfriend, football star Sean Taylor.
Taylor's ex-teammate: `He has a great heart' It was early Monday morning when former University of Miami tight end Buck Ortega got the text messages that made his stomach turn.
George Mira Jr. saw his share of violent hits and bloody injuries as a linebacker for the University of Miami and the San Francisco 49ers. But none of those experiences prepared him for the scene he walked in on at the Palmetto Bay home of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor early Monday morning.
NFL star Sean Taylor squeezed a doctor's hand from his hospital bed Monday evening, giving his tense, exhausted family reason for hope after a daylong ordeal that began when Taylor was shot by an intruder at his Palmetto Bay home.
GALLERIES
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