Posted on 11/27/2007 6:29:31 AM PST by WL-law
MIAMI, Nov. 27 -- Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died early Tuesday from the gunshot wound he suffered a day earlier in his Miami home. ... Police are investigating the incident as a possible home invasion. ... The bullet severed Taylor's femoral artery, causing massive blood loss. He underwent seven hours of surgery ...
Taylor confronted one or more intruders early Monday morning at the bedroom door of the house he shares with his fiancee and 18-month-old daughter, and was shot in the upper thigh near the femoral artery, Sharpstein said. ...
No arrests were made. In a statement, Miami-Dade police said a preliminary investigation indicated that Taylor had been shot by an intruder, but that the investigation was not complete.
... Just before Monday's shooting, Taylor was awakened by a noise in his living room, Sharpstein said. As the shooter or shooters approached Taylor's bedroom, he reached for a machete or other form of knife he keeps nearby in case of emergency, and two shots were fired, one striking his leg in the groin area.
Cerrato said Taylor's fiancee tried to call police from the house line, only to discover that the line had been cut. She had to use her cellphone to call 911, which delayed the response time.
"This was a deliberate attack," Cerrato said without elaborating.
...
The shooting came eight days after another incident was reported at Taylor's home. An intruder pried open a front window, went through drawers and a safe and left a kitchen knife on a bed, according to the police report of the Nov. 18 incident.
Despite the break-in a week ago, there was no security system at Taylor's house, according to Emory Williams, a cousin of Taylor's.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It's powerfully ironic that Taylor was arrested for "brandishing a gun", and in this case he defended himself only with a knife.
The shooter shot him in the groin, presumably at close range.
Agree it seems like he was targeted.
Lessons:
Never take a mere machete to a gun fight, and if you’re a famous young millionaire who runs with thugs, put a security system in your house.
Well, they don’t call gun control “Victim Disarmament” for nothing.
A radio station in Miami said this morning that he lived in a gated community and had a security system in his house. It was unclear whether the security system was armed, but in any case, someone had cut the phone line to his house, so while the alarm may have going off, the notification system would not have worked.
Sleeping with a couple of big dogs is a good idea, given the consequences of Taylor’s failure to.
Depends on the notification system and how advanced it was. Your normal run of the mill home security system won’t do much, but the more advanced ones have battery backup power and the capability to, essentially, use a cell phone to call for help. Granted, if the system isn’t armed, it doesn’t matter. And unless he paid to have it installed after the fact, I doubt the alarm would be any better than a standard alarm.
Surely she knew her address, regardless of what device she used to call 911. Why would the response have been significantly delayed just because she didn't use the landline?
For a good alarm, that wouldn’t matter. There is a cellphone backup system that immediately calls when the phones lines go dead.
They would have shot him in the head or heart if it was a “hit”. That or it was a really bad hit...
“They would have shot him in the head or heart if it was a hit. That or it was a really bad hit...”
That was my thought. A groin shot may have been meant to send a different message.
The guy was probably no angel but his prior gun charge was for “brandishing” a weapon at someone who was stealing his vehicle. Sounds to me like he needed a chance to brandish a gun this time.
Maybe an angry husband of an unfaithful wife?
Cant sign on to that one. Even with rights comes responsibilities. We have the right to vote, yet convicted felons cant.
I’m leaning towards a bungled hit. Sean may have surprised whoever it was when he went to check out the noise and surprised them. And just because it was a hit doesn’t mean that it was done by a professional hitman either. Could have just been a gang-banger with a score to settle.
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