Miami-Dade police reached out to the public Tuesday for help in solving the shooting death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor.
Taylor was shot in his suburban Miami home early Monday and died a day later, after doctors furiously scrambled to repair a severed femoral artery from a single gunshot wound. He was 24.
Miami-Dade police, who remained close-lipped about the incident through Tuesday, asked anyone with information to call an area hotline with tips. It remained unclear whether Taylor’s shooting was a random act or a byproduct of his past. His home had been burglarized in July, when someone left a kitchen knife on a bed. Taylor also had run-ins with the police, including an incident in which he waved a gun in another man’s face during a dispute over all-terrain vehicles.
Taylor’s lawyer, Richard Sharpstein, told the Miami Herald that Taylor, his girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, and their daughter, Jackie, 1, were sleeping when Garcia heard a noise in the house. Taylor grabbed a machete and ran to the door, where he was shot.
Garcia ran to Jackie’s crib and covered her, the lawyer said.
Despite his violent history, Taylor was showing signs of maturity, especially after Jackie’s birth, friends and teammates of the reclusive defensive back said publicly.
Redskins coaches had remarked on his newfound work ethic, and Taylor was tied for the conference lead in interceptions despite a knee injury.
It was the knee injury that might have cost him his life. Taylor hadn’t been traveling with the Redskins for two weeks, telling coach Joe Gibbs that he wanted to recover at home.
No one was in custody late Tuesday evening, Miami-Dade police said.
