Another guy who died way too young. RIP Sean. A UM and NFL standout.
Washington Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor died Tuesday morning, a day after he was shot by an intruder at his home in Palmetto Bay.
He was 24.
The one-time standout with the Miami Hurricanes died at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he was airlifted after the shooting Monday morning.
Shot in the groin, he suffered massive blood loss from a severed femoral artery. Surgery conducted later in the afternoon could not save him, although he was able to squeeze a doctor's hand, giving his family reason for hope.
That hope was crushed before dawn Tuesday.
Family and other loved ones, who maintained a vigil overnight, were seen leaving the hospital in tears.
The gunman remained on the loose.
''This is just such a tragic, horrible, unnecessary death -- another example of the incessant violence in this city and this country,'' Richard Sharpstein, Taylor's attorney, said early Tuesday morning.
AT THE SCENE
His client, born and raised in west Perrine, was a paradox. On and off in recent years, he found himself in trouble with the law and once was fined by the NFL for spitting in the face of an adversary. But he was also praised by teammates and others for his kindness and maturity, especially since the birth of his infant daughter.
''From the first day I met him, from then to now, it's just like night and day,'' Redskins receiver James Thrash said before Taylor's death was reported.
Taylor is the son of Florida City's police chief, Pedro Taylor, who called Sharpstein at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday with the news.
''His father called and said he was with Christ and he cried and thanked me,'' Sharpstein said.
Through their website, the Washington Redskins released a statement from owner Daniel M. Snyder, who flew to Miami Monday with Vice President Vince Cerrato and Clinton Portis, a teammate of Taylor's at both UM and in Washington, to be at Taylor's side.
''This is the worst imagineable tragedy,'' Snyder said. ``Our thoughts and prayers are with Sean's family.''
For the tight-knit family of current and former members of the Miami Hurricanes football team, it is another grievous loss. Several have died prematurely, of car crashes, a plane crash -- and shootings.
Miami-Dade patrol officers received the call that Taylor had been shot about 1:45 a.m. Monday.
Taylor and his girlfriend were startled awake by noises in his sprawling home on Old Cutler Road. Taylor grabbed a machete from underneath his bed and went to investigate.
He didn't get far. An armed intruder fired at least one shot. Taylor tumbled back into the bedroom, fatally wounded in the groin, Sharpstein said.
Sharpstein said the couple's baby daughter was also in the bedroom and slept through the shooting. The gunman fled immediately after firing.
''Nothing was stolen. They shot at him and fled,'' Sharpstein said.
He said phone lines to the home had been cut and that Taylor's girlfriend had to call 911 on a cellphone.
Among the first responders was George Mira Jr., who lettered as a linebacker at UM from 1984-87 and is now a fire battalion chief. Detective Juan Villalba, a Miami-Dade police spokesman, said police were interviewing relatives who were potential witnesses.
Only eight days before, according to police records, someone had broken into Taylor's house between 7 p.m. Nov. 17 and midnight Nov. 18. The intruder, who pried open a front window, entered several rooms and rifled through drawers and a safe in the bedroom.
In that incident, someone left a kitchen knife on a bed, the police report says.
''They're really sifting through that incident and today's incident,'' Miami-Dade Detective Mario Rachid said, ``to see if there's any correlation.''
Retirees Pat and Jim Smith, who live next door to Taylor, said they heard voices outside about 2:30 a.m. Monday. Outside, Jim Smith talked to a woman with a baby in her arms who he believes is Taylor's nanny. She mentioned the previous break-in.
''I am going to make sure my gun is loaded,'' Jim Smith said. ``We never did have any problems here.''
PLAYING CAREER
Taylor, a graduate of Gulliver Preparatory School in Pinecrest, was chosen by the Redskins as the fifth pick overall in the National Football League's 2004 draft.
He signed a seven-year, $18 million contract after his junior year at UM, when his nine interceptions were the most in the Big East Conference and second in the nation.
At UM, he was an All-American, a Jim Thorpe Award finalist for best defensive back in the nation and the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.
This season, he was sidelined indefinitely Nov. 11 when he sprained his right knee against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Redskins lost to the Buccaneers in Tampa on Sunday.
UM officials weighed in, saying, ``This is a terrible thing to have happened to a great person, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and teammates.''
Taylor is no stranger to controversy.
Before he was drafted, he was rebuked by the NFL for leaving the league's mandatory rookie symposium early, and drew a $25,000 fine.
ASSAULT CASE
He was arrested in June 2005 on felony charges of waving a gun at people he believed had stolen his all-terrain vehicle. He later pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery. Sharpstein said Taylor was the victim and that he should not have been charged.
After the plea, Ryan Lee Hill, a member of the group that Taylor had allegedly accosted, sued Taylor. In the suit, which is pending, Hill claimed Taylor hit him repeatedly in a fight and brandished a gun at him, and said he had lost wages and had medical bills because of injuries.
''Totally garbage and untrue,'' Sharpstein said Monday of Hill's account.
After the fight, Taylor, friend Michael McFarlane and a man named Charles Caughman went to McFarlane's house in West Perrine, according to court records of the incident. Soon afterward, a silver car pulled up to McFarlane's house and someone opened fire, peppering Taylor's GMC Yukon Denali with bullets. Police found 27 bullet casings outside, and at least 15 shots hit Taylor's car. No one was hit, and the shooting remains unsolved.
McFarlane has since moved out of the small ranch home on Southwest 104th Avenue. The current renter on Monday showed a visitor bullet holes that remain over a front window.
CHANGING HIS LIFE
Taylor's cousin, Florida State University safety Anthony Leon, said Taylor was trying to shed some troublemaking friends he had grown up with. Leon, who said he spent his morning crying and praying in his dorm room, said Taylor had ``started to calm down.''
''He's been trying to stay away from bad company -- especially for his daughter's sake,'' Leon said. ``Sean wasn't a bad guy at all. He's got his personality on the football field and off it. All he was trying to do was protect his family. And they shot him.''
Miami Herald staff writers Patricia Mazzei, Manny Navarro, Evan S. Benn, Susannah A. Nesmith and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
