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UPDATE: Jaguars player shot, faces life-threatening injuries
By STEVE PATTERSON and RAND MIRANDA
The Times-Union
A Jacksonville Jaguars player is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries following a shooting early this morning.
Richard Collier, 26, an offensive tackle in his third year with the Jaguars, was shot about 2:45 a.m. while sitting in a vehicle parked in the 2300 block of Riverside Avenue, said Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ken Jefferson.
Jefferson said Collier and recently cut Jaguars player Kenneth Pettway had been out clubbing in the San Marco area when they met two women. The two men followed the women to Riverside near St. Vincent’s Medical Center with the plan to drop the females’ vehicle off and continue socializing in one vehicle, police said.
While waiting outside the Riverside apartment, someone walked up to the red Cadillac Escalade and fired off a number of shots striking Collier, Jefferson said. Pettway was not injured in the attack.
Jefferson confirmed that Collier was the driver and was slumped over when officers arrived.
Police later removed the Escalade, which had one bullet shot through the driver’s side of the windshield. The windshield of a Honda parked nearby had been shattered in two places, but that vehicle was not removed.
Collier was taken to Shands Jacksonville, where Jaguars team members and officials gathered Tuesday morning with the player’s family and fiancee.
Jaguars co-owner Wayne Weaver e-mailed a statement that Collier was “in critical but stable condition” following surgery. Shands cannot release any information on Collier because of the Health and Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Patients can ask to have the information withheld under the act.
“The entire Jaguars family is praying for Richard and his family at this time,” Weaver’s e-mail said.
The shooting comes after veteran running back Fred Taylor addressed the team about his disorderly conduct charge Friday night when he cursed an officer outside a nightclub. Following several arrests of Jaguars players over the last couple of years, Taylor had recently spoke about the importance of players not partying too much.
The Jaguars have had 13 off-the-field incidents involving the law since September 2006 and all but one occurred during the late night/early morning hours.
In November 2007 Collier was arrested by Jacksonville police for driving under the influence. He was suspended by the team for two games but signed a contract extension in May.
State records indicate Collier's driver’s license has been suspended since the drunk-driving arrest, according to Ann Nucatola, spokeswoman for the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The six-month time for that suspension has come and gone, but Nucatola said there could be a number of reasons the license wasn’t reinstated, possibly including not paying fines, not meeting other conditions of reinstatement or simply not doing the needed paperwork.
Jefferson said it was unknown if there was one or multiple assailants. Authorities said they did not know of a motive for the shooting.
Jefferson said the two women “appeared shocked” by the shooting. He said authorities did not know if the two men were involved in any altercation or incident earlier in the night or if the shooting was random and not connected to the two players personally.
A man interviewed outside the apartment Tuesday morning said one of the women is his fiancee. They’re 22 and 26 years old, but the Times-Union is not identifying them because the shooter or shooters remain at large. The man, who was at work overnight, said he wasn’t certain what club the women visited. He said they know someone involved with promoting events involving Jaguars players and speculated that they might have gone clubbing at such an event.
The women were questioned by police and returned to the apartment building shortly after 9 a.m. One walked into the building without responding to a shouted call to her, and a few minutes later the other declined to talk to reporters as she left the building.
A resident of a neighboring apartment building, Wade Garner, said he thought he had seen the Escalade parked in the area about 1 a.m.
“I’m very shocked,” he said about the shooting, adding that he would not expect violence in his neighborhood. “It’s pretty quiet. … People I’ve seen here, they come and go to work and home. It’s not really a party place, or a violent place.”
That sense of surprise was repeated by others in the neighborhood of brick apartment buildings and restored century-old houses.
“I’ve lived here for years and I’ve always felt very safe. It definitely scared me,” said Kelly Savage, 27, who was awakened by the shooting and hadn’t been to sleep since then. “It seems like it’s, I hope, an isolated incident.”
Neighbors described hearing five to eight shots in rapid succession.
“It was so close. … You would have thought they were in the house,” said one woman. She said she looked outside after the shots and saw the Escalade with its passenger door open and the interior light on, but didn’t hear or notice anyone around.
Collier is listed by the Jaguars as a 6-foot-7, 345-pound offensive tackle and was in a battle with Khalif Barnes for the starting job. He was expected to play this season as a backup and on special teams. The Louisiana native was undrafted out of Valdosta State and made the team as a rookie in 2006.
Pettway, a backup defensive end, was released by the Jaguars on Saturday after several seasons with the team.
Anyone with information can contact the Sheriff’s Office at (904) 630-0500 or First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-8477 (845-TIPS) to remain anonymous and be eligible for rewards.
Times-Union writers Jim Schoettler and Michael C. Wright contributed to this report.
Keep following this story on Jacksonville.com throughout the day and in Wednesday's Times-Union.
Story last modified: 9/2/2008 - 5:47 pm
Story originally created: 090208
By STEVE PATTERSON and RAND MIRANDA
The Times-Union
A Jacksonville Jaguars player is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries following a shooting early this morning.
Richard Collier, 26, an offensive tackle in his third year with the Jaguars, was shot about 2:45 a.m. while sitting in a vehicle parked in the 2300 block of Riverside Avenue, said Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ken Jefferson.
Jefferson said Collier and recently cut Jaguars player Kenneth Pettway had been out clubbing in the San Marco area when they met two women. The two men followed the women to Riverside near St. Vincent’s Medical Center with the plan to drop the females’ vehicle off and continue socializing in one vehicle, police said.
While waiting outside the Riverside apartment, someone walked up to the red Cadillac Escalade and fired off a number of shots striking Collier, Jefferson said. Pettway was not injured in the attack.
Jefferson confirmed that Collier was the driver and was slumped over when officers arrived.
Police later removed the Escalade, which had one bullet shot through the driver’s side of the windshield. The windshield of a Honda parked nearby had been shattered in two places, but that vehicle was not removed.
Collier was taken to Shands Jacksonville, where Jaguars team members and officials gathered Tuesday morning with the player’s family and fiancee.
Jaguars co-owner Wayne Weaver e-mailed a statement that Collier was “in critical but stable condition” following surgery. Shands cannot release any information on Collier because of the Health and Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Patients can ask to have the information withheld under the act.
“The entire Jaguars family is praying for Richard and his family at this time,” Weaver’s e-mail said.
The shooting comes after veteran running back Fred Taylor addressed the team about his disorderly conduct charge Friday night when he cursed an officer outside a nightclub. Following several arrests of Jaguars players over the last couple of years, Taylor had recently spoke about the importance of players not partying too much.
The Jaguars have had 13 off-the-field incidents involving the law since September 2006 and all but one occurred during the late night/early morning hours.
In November 2007 Collier was arrested by Jacksonville police for driving under the influence. He was suspended by the team for two games but signed a contract extension in May.
State records indicate Collier's driver’s license has been suspended since the drunk-driving arrest, according to Ann Nucatola, spokeswoman for the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The six-month time for that suspension has come and gone, but Nucatola said there could be a number of reasons the license wasn’t reinstated, possibly including not paying fines, not meeting other conditions of reinstatement or simply not doing the needed paperwork.
Jefferson said it was unknown if there was one or multiple assailants. Authorities said they did not know of a motive for the shooting.
Jefferson said the two women “appeared shocked” by the shooting. He said authorities did not know if the two men were involved in any altercation or incident earlier in the night or if the shooting was random and not connected to the two players personally.
A man interviewed outside the apartment Tuesday morning said one of the women is his fiancee. They’re 22 and 26 years old, but the Times-Union is not identifying them because the shooter or shooters remain at large. The man, who was at work overnight, said he wasn’t certain what club the women visited. He said they know someone involved with promoting events involving Jaguars players and speculated that they might have gone clubbing at such an event.
The women were questioned by police and returned to the apartment building shortly after 9 a.m. One walked into the building without responding to a shouted call to her, and a few minutes later the other declined to talk to reporters as she left the building.
A resident of a neighboring apartment building, Wade Garner, said he thought he had seen the Escalade parked in the area about 1 a.m.
“I’m very shocked,” he said about the shooting, adding that he would not expect violence in his neighborhood. “It’s pretty quiet. … People I’ve seen here, they come and go to work and home. It’s not really a party place, or a violent place.”
That sense of surprise was repeated by others in the neighborhood of brick apartment buildings and restored century-old houses.
“I’ve lived here for years and I’ve always felt very safe. It definitely scared me,” said Kelly Savage, 27, who was awakened by the shooting and hadn’t been to sleep since then. “It seems like it’s, I hope, an isolated incident.”
Neighbors described hearing five to eight shots in rapid succession.
“It was so close. … You would have thought they were in the house,” said one woman. She said she looked outside after the shots and saw the Escalade with its passenger door open and the interior light on, but didn’t hear or notice anyone around.
Collier is listed by the Jaguars as a 6-foot-7, 345-pound offensive tackle and was in a battle with Khalif Barnes for the starting job. He was expected to play this season as a backup and on special teams. The Louisiana native was undrafted out of Valdosta State and made the team as a rookie in 2006.
Pettway, a backup defensive end, was released by the Jaguars on Saturday after several seasons with the team.
Anyone with information can contact the Sheriff’s Office at (904) 630-0500 or First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-8477 (845-TIPS) to remain anonymous and be eligible for rewards.
Times-Union writers Jim Schoettler and Michael C. Wright contributed to this report.
Keep following this story on Jacksonville.com throughout the day and in Wednesday's Times-Union.
Story last modified: 9/2/2008 - 5:47 pm
Story originally created: 090208