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Florida police quiz three in Taylor slaying
2007-11-30
Police in Florida appear to be questioning three people in connection with the murder of Sean Taylor, a star defensive player with the National Football League's Washington Redskins, local media and Taylor's former lawyer said on Friday. Taylor, 24, who was the Redskins' first pick in the 2004 draft, was shot in the groin area during an apparent home robbery on Monday, severing his femoral artery, and he died the next day in a hospital after losing massive amounts of blood. Taylor's former lawyer and family friend Richard Sharpstein said he understood that Miami-Dade police had gone to Fort Myers on Florida's west coast to question three young men about the robbery and murder. "I can't speak officially for the police but it's my understanding that three young men are in custody in Fort Myers, Lee County, two of them allegedly youths, and that Metro-Dade (Miami-Dade) police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are trying to get statements," Sharpstein said. "A house is being searched. I think they have a search warrant. It looks by all indications to be exactly as I've said, that he was targeted because Sean was a wealthy football player," he said. A spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, which is leading the investigation into the killing, said detectives had traveled to the Fort Myers area on Friday but would not confirm that anyone had been detained. Police in Lee County, where Fort Myers is located, said they had no information on any detentions while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would only say that it was cooperating with Miami-Dade police in the investigation. The Miami Herald newspaper, which first reported that three young men, aged 17, 19 and 26 were being questioned, said investigators believed they learned of Taylor's house through someone who bragged about the football star's money. Taylor was not supposed to be home in the village of Palmetto Bay, just south of Miami, at the time of the break-in, the paper said, not identifying its source. Police and family friends say Taylor and his fiancee were awakened by noises in the middle of the night and Taylor was shot in the groin when his bedroom door burst open as he went to lock it. He had grabbed a machete to defend himself while his girlfriend hid with their 18-month-old baby beneath the bedcovers. Police said a previous burglary attempt had been reported at Taylor's house on November 18. No arrests had followed. Taylor's death shocked his teammates and football fans. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder plans to fly the entire team to Miami for the funeral on Monday. The hard-hitting safety had five interceptions this season but had been sidelined the last two weeks with a leg injury. Taylor had a run-in with the law two years ago after he was accused of brandishing a gun at a group of people he suspected of stealing his all-terrain vehicle. (Reporting by Michael Christie; Additional reporting by Jim Loney, Editing by Vicki Allen)
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