Sean Taylor dead at the age of 24.

[jaydubh11]

but Rolle was friend that knew this dude for a decade plus so you would think that he might know what was going on.

And obviously he didn't know what was going on .. which is why he shouldn't have said what he did .. which is what I was saying ..

 

[dyyhard]

^^

great quote in bold. but correct me if I'm wrong --- the lawyer family friend was the same guy who pointed in the direction of past run-ins as the probablesuspects of the murder, initially.


[table][tr][td]

Rumors abound about what really happened, but Tuesday on the "O'Reilly Factor," Taylor attorney Richard Sharpstein not only laid out the scenario which led to the murder, he actually named a person the police should be investigating....
The name? Ryan Hill, a man Sharpstein described as one of a group of people who are thieves, criminals and felons....
Sharpstein went on to describe an incident in 2005, when Taylor had several ATV's stolen from his property. Hill, his cousins and the rest of his crew were seen rining around Miami on Taylor's ATV's; which led to Sean confronting Hill....
The two reportedly got into a fistfight, weapons were drawn and Taylor wound up getting arrested....
Bad blood remained and is the reason Sharpstein strongly suspects Hill in this tragedy....

[/td] [/tr][/table]

criminal wannabes
I didn't know there were distinctions between criminals...

Did anyone hear in that phone call the mom was on " they are saying sasha paid them to dothat" .OMG i hope and pray that's not the case.
AP VIDEO

i couldn't make out what the mom was saying in the AP video, but if this turns out to be true, that's just makes this an even more horrendous tragedy.

 

[varisoxfan]

its all so sad, all these lives ruined over what? nothing, absolutly nothing was gained from any of this. It seems like Taylor would have been willing to loanthese kids money had they went about asking for it the right way and shown him they had good intentions of using it to help turn there lives around much as howhe had. A damn shame. With that said, i hope these kids get maximum sentences.

 

[drunken cow]

I may be late, but r.i.p sean

 

[fede dpt]

Originally Posted by JayDubH11

Some of the "MySpaces" for those who haven't seen:
Rivera

Wardlow 1

Wardlow 2

Mitchell

Hunte

Wardlow's sister

Rumor on the Skins board is that Rivera (17) admitted to firing the weapon, could have easily been pushed into a confession though. Young@*$+ kids man, *#+* just didn't need to happen man.

Before, based on Rolle's assesment, I thought Sean couldnt get away from his past.

Rolle is on my list of people who owe an apology for talking out of their posterior. He's done it before with matters regarding Sean. He's gotta be smarter than that .. growing up with dude, people are going to take credence to what he has to say .. and to resort to the statements he did .. AND taking it to the media .. SMH
Why? Sean had people down here who didnt like him anymore because of his status and legal woes he had turn his back. Obviously, Trell knows that andmistakenly thought it couldve have been someone else, in which it COULD have.

 

[dyyhard]

[h1]http://www.winknews.com/news/local/12025871.html#.
[/h1][h1]
[/h1][h1]EXCLUSIVE: Taylor family insider denies family involved in murder[/h1][h3]By Nick Spinetto, WINK News
[/h3]
Story Created: Dec 1, 2007 at 10:42 PM EST

Story Updated: Dec 1, 2007 at 11:11 PM EST

Fort Myers - A family insider says there's no family involvement in this week's shooting death of the NFL star.

There's been speculation about Sasha Johnson's involvement in the murder of her brother.

Her father, is fighting back these allegations saying she's not involved.

Reporter: "She's completely, 100% not involved?"

Dwayne Johnson: "She's 100% not involved. At all! That question being asked is the most ridiculous question in the world. He loved his sister."

On Saturday night, outside his Fort Myers home, Dwayne Johnson say he wants to set the record straight.

He says theories about his daughter being involved in her brother's death is not only a lie, but a crazy a idea.

"My daughter having anything to do with her brother's murder is untrue," Johnson said.

However, WINK News found there is a connection between Sasha Johnson and the suspects.

According to sources, Sasha Johnson dates one of the suspects uncles.

When I asked Dwayne Johnson if he was surprised about the connection, this is what he had to say.

"It's, um, words can't describe it. I mean, I'm speechless."

As of right now, WINK News has not been able to confirm with investigators if Sasha played even a minor role in carrying out this crime.

Dwayne Johnson says it's unlikely.

"He loved his sister and she loved her brother."

Johnson is Sasha's father, but not Sean Taylor's

Both Sean and Sasha share the same mother.

Regardless, Dwayne says the family was tight nit.

"Nothing we could say could bring him back and that's unfortunate for this family," he said.

Dwayne says he and his wife will go to Miami to be with the rest of the family for the funeral services.

 

[mustbetheshoe58]

this is just a shame..i hope justice will serve rightfully to the convicted.

 

[jaydubh11]

Trell knows that and mistakenly thought it couldve have been someone else, in which it COULD have.

.. Of course it "could" have .. I agree .. my point is .. Rolle didn't KNOW @*@* .. so he didn't need to make the statements he did ..

.. what am I missing?

And I think Gunna had a valid point earlier when he said dudes like Gore and Rolle would rather think he was targeted because to think otherwise sits uneasy.

 

[airuphere23]

I hope and pray that "Sasha", his half sister, did not set this up. That's all I can say....wow..this situation has been crazy. Absolutelyterrible~

 

[shoehead117]

You know it is a damn shame that Sean Taylor's fate ended in the hands of these punk+@#% kids who would've probably never amounted to anything in life.By the looks of it they probably would never contribute anything to society except waste space and contribute to the stereotype that all black people are atthe bottom of the social structure.

If I ever got the chance to see one of these dumb$!+*@* I would spit in their face.

I hope that all, INCLUDING THE 17 YEAR OLD MINORS, get life in prison. Justice would be served. They do not deserve to live in our society. SMH at theirparents

Skins fans, we lost a great athlete. Sunday and Monday will be tough and very emotional

 

[INTLplayers]

God will give the convicted the ultimate judgement they deserve..

but if it were up to me..they all would be thrown into the middle of Fed-Ex field.

 

[outacontrol music]

but if it were up to me..they all would be thrown into the middle of Fed-Ex field.

 

[dyyhard]

touching article from Miami Herald

[h2]SEAN TAYLOR | 1983-2007[/h2][h1]Taylor's charmed life and senseless death[/h1][h2]For lots of boys, pro football is a dream. But for Sean Taylor it was destiny, say those who cut his hair, accompanied him to church, coached him and sawhis ferocious pride and competitiveness.[/h2]
[h5]Posted on Sun, Dec. 02, 2007[/h5]
Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
[h3]BY AUDRA D.S. BURCH, ERIKA BERAS, SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN AND EVAN S. BENN[/h3][h3][email protected][/h3]


CHARLES TRAINOR JR. / MIAMI HERALD STAFF

Venjah Hunte, 20, and Charles Wardlow, 18, make their first court appearance via video in Ft Myers' courtroom after being arrested for the murder/burglary of pro football player Sean Taylor in Miami.

» More Photos

• Audio | Sean Taylor's father speaks on Friday
• Slide show | Taylor mourned
• Slide show | Suspects arrested in Taylor killing
• More on Sean Taylor's death
• Sean Taylor viewing set for Sunday
• Taylor tragedy leaves many questions
• Police: We have confessions in Sean Taylor slaying
• Scholarship created to honor Taylor
• [img]http://media.miamiherald.com/i...ro Taylor: Sean had 'a big heart, a big smile'
• [img]http://media.miamiherald.com/i...o | Suspect's family: 'My brother is innocent'
• [img]http://media.miamiherald.com/i... Video | Suspect's family reacts to arrest

Constance Dingle stood outside her house less than 48 hours after Sean Taylor's death -- a ringing cordless phone in one hand, a beeping cellphone inthe other -- receiving condolences and fretting about funeral arrangements for her murdered grandson.

''He was a good kid. My grandson opened doors for women, he respected people, he was polite,'' she said, struggling to be heard above theexuberant giggles of neighborhood children at play in her yard. ``He was smart, too.''

This was the somber, exhausted, hollow voice of a grandmother who helped raise Taylor, the Washington ********' All-Pro safety who had spent part of hischildhood at her son's house next door.

Dingle had potty-trained Sean over a weekend. She had sung his favorite Itsy Bitsy Spider over and over and had taught him to read by sounding outthe letters of street signs around Richmond Heights, a middle-class community of winding streets and pastel houses. Dingle, her son Pedro and Sean had lived ona street -- a Place, really -- with just four houses and within skipping distance of a park.

Dingle's recounting of her memories of Taylor are interrupted by a steady caravan of reporters and camera crews all here to dig out the story of thestar athlete who died violently in his bedroom in an upscale neighborhood a few miles away from his boyhood home.

He was the victim of a random, botched burglary, police say.

On Friday, Miami-Dade police arrested three teenagers and a 20-year-old, saying they shot Taylor, 24, during an armed break-in at his $900,000 home on OldCutler Road in Palmetto Bay. Police said the intruders thought he wouldn't be home. They fired after he came at them with a machete. Attorneys for twosuspects said Saturday that their clients have confessed.

The arrests put an end to the questions about whether Taylor's modest brushes with the law -- including a 2001 fistfight at Florida InternationalUniversity (no charge), a 2004 DUI charge in Virginia (later dropped) and a 2005 confrontation involving guns (pleaded out to a misdemeanor) -- could offersome insight into why he was shot.

Dingle said it has been difficult to watch strangers dissect her grandson's charmed, if complicated, life.

''You know, they keep saying that Sean changed his life after having a baby,'' she said. ``Sean was already living right. He has movedforward since the day he was born.''

Just last week, Dingle cooked Sean's favorite dessert: sweet-potato pie. She never got a chance to give it to him.

``By knowing the Lord and having great faith, I don't ask why, because God does not make mistakes. Maybe He plucked Sean now to help save someoneelse.''

•

A few months after his birth on April Fool's Day in 1983, Sean Michael Maurice Taylor was baptized at Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church in FloridaCity.

He became a fixture there, going to services with his dad, stepmother and grandmother.

''Sean went to church every Saturday unless he had practice,'' his great-aunt, Merlane Williams, said from her home in Richmond Heights.

He got his first taste of football as a 60-pound 6-year-old on the Homestead Hurricanes. Taylor went on to play for the Florida City Razorbacks, a team thathis dad helped coach.

Glenn ''Lucky'' Smith remembers running footraces with Taylor outside Pine Lake Elementary when they were boys. Smith, who now works for acable company, said the neighborhood kids, even at 8, 9 and 10, expected Taylor to be great.

''We weren't surprised when he made the NFL; it was his destiny,'' Smith said. ``All kids dream of getting out, of making it big-time,but for Sean it was real and everybody knew it.''

Taylor stood out on the football field from his earliest Pop Warner days, said Tommy Sumler, ''Coach Bo'' to kids who play ball in SouthMiami-Dade.

''Him and his father really set a role for the community,'' Sumler said.

•

Pedro ''Pete'' Taylor and Josephine Leon were married in February 1987. Sean was almost 4.

Pete and Sean's biological mom, Donna Junor, battled over custody of Sean until he was about 9. Pete won, according to court records and familysources.

Hurricane Andrew toppled the family home in South Miami-Dade in 1992. Even so, Williams says, a few family photos were saved.

''I have one of him with his cowboy hat on, playing with his choo-choo train,'' Williams said tearfully. ``He was such a goodboy.''

Pete Taylor -- a career Florida City police officer who rose to chief in 2003 -- ran a strict household. Sean Taylor was among eight children, and he was,by all accounts, a respectful, happy kid.

''He loved sweet-potato pie,'' Williams said. ``I had made it for him since he was a little boy. He said mine was the best.''

As he grew older, Taylor nurtured his relationship with his mom. He attended services with her side of the family at Perrine Seventh-day Adventist Church.He went often with his great-grandmother, Aulga Clarke. They sat holding hands.

The last time Clarke saw her great-grandson was the day before Thanksgiving.

''He helped me clean the house. He gave me two hugs and kisses,'' she said. ``He was a very affectionate boy.''

•

Pete Taylor thought his son would have better college prospects if he went to a private high school. Sean transferred during his sophomore year from MiamiKillian Senior High to Gulliver Preparatory School.

At both schools, he charmed his teachers and coaches with his easy ways and football skills.

''Seems like yesterday, he walked into the Killian locker room as a ninth-grader and asked to be on the football team,'' said James Bryant,Taylor's junior varsity coach at Killian. ``He was a natural. I told him then that he'd be big-time some day.''

''You wanted to hang out with him,'' said Greg Bellamy, who played with Taylor on Gulliver's state championship team in 2000.``You know how players are cocky and stuff? That wasn't his style.''

At Gulliver, Taylor started dating Jackie Garcia, a pretty, popular athlete. She was voted homecoming queen and was named to the All-Dade soccer team fourtimes.

From the start, Taylor's family and friends all approved of the romance.

''Jackie's one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet,'' said Emory Williams, who is Merlane Williams' son and consideredTaylor a brother.

Their relationship blossomed at the University of Miami, where she played varsity soccer. Eighteen months ago, she gave birth to their daughter, Jackie.

''He was a simple man, a private man, and when people say that he was troubled, it's just not true,'' Garcia told CNN on Thursday.

She described Taylor as a ``homebody.''

'He wasn't, like, `I got to be on South Beach,' '' Williams said. ``He loved being at home.''

•

Taylor's rise to greatness at the University of Miami almost didn't happen. Several programs, including George Tech's, courted him during hissenior year at Gulliver, when he set a state record for most touchdowns in a season. He decided to stay close to home.

The 2001 UM team -- coached by Larry Coker and led by current NFL stars Clinton Portis, Jeremy Shockey and Andre Johnson and backed up by rising talentslike Taylor and Kellen Winslow Jr. -- won a national championship, beating Nebraska in the Rose Bowl.

It was during Taylor's UM years that some friends and acquaintances say he first experienced the darker side of stardom.

He was involved in a fight his freshman year at a pickup basketball game at Florida International University. Witnesses told police that Taylor and friendsattacked an FIU basketball player. Taylor was later questioned but not charged.

Selected by the ******** in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft, Taylor had racked up fines for missed meetings, uniform violations and gameejections.

He was arrested on DUI charges near his town house in Virginia in 2004. A judge dismissed the case.

But the incident that made headlines -- and caused Taylor to clam up around reporters -- was his 2005 altercation over two all-terrain vehicles in WestPerrine.

Taylor and several friends confronted Ryan Lee Hill, who they believed had stolen the ATVs from Taylor. It was claimed that Taylor's friends wavedguns.

Afterward, Taylor retreated to a friend's house a few blocks from Hill's. While Taylor's friends were inside, a car pulled up and someone firedseveral dozen shots at the house and Taylor's SUV. The shooters were never identified or caught.

But police arrested Taylor and charged him with felony aggravated assault with a firearm for the confrontation with Hill. A plea agreement reduced thecharge to a misdemeanor, which was wiped from Taylor's record after he completed probation in April.

•

The ATV incident received considerable media coverage, and Taylor was stung by his portrayal in the press -- irritated that his personal life overshadowedhis career achievements.

******** teammates have said that Taylor had seemed more mature since the birth of his daughter. His former high school running-back coach said the babyhelped Taylor cut ties with the South Florida friends who were negative influences.

''That forced him to get away from those guys,'' said Lee Horn. 'Like, `Hey, I can die. I've got to stop this and change mylifestyle.' ''

Pete Taylor has said he had a sit-down with his son after the ATV incident to persuade him to take a step back. His son listened.

He didn't ratchet down his intensity on the football field. For instance, he was criticized for spitting in the face of an opposing player during the2006 playoffs. Another episode at this past year's Pro Bowl -- he delivered a bone-crushing hit on a punter during the meaningless exhibition game -- alsodrew rebukes.

The clip of that hit has become a popular link on YouTube.

Taylor was considered one of the league's top free safeties and was leading the NFC in interceptions when a knee injury sidelined him three weeksago.

Whenever he wasn't playing, he made every effort to come home. After his younger brother Jamal's Pop Warner team won the 2003 national title, Taylorspent $17,000 to buy personalized, diamond-studded rings for every player and coach on the Palmetto Bay Broncos. Taylor was on the sidelines for thechampionship game at Disney.

''Have you ever seen a Super Bowl ring?'' asked Lon Cowart, the coach who also hosted Taylor's NFL Draft party at his home in Tavernier.``These aren't as big or glamorous, but they're special, and Sean made that possible.''

After Hurricane Katrina, Taylor returned home. He canvassed the West Perrine community offering help -- and ended up on top of Solomon Graves' house,helping to fix his roof.

''If you didn't know he was a *******, you'd just think he was a normal guy,'' Graves said. ``He never had his nose stuck in the airor acted like he had more money than everyone around here.''

During the football season, Taylor would usually stay at his town house in Ashburn, Va. But the injured knee prevented him from playing. Some say Taylormade an unannounced return to Palmetto Bay last weekend to get a second opinion on the knee; others believe he was home to keep Jackie and their daughter safeafter a recent break-in.

Taylor seemed to have found a balance between his on-field duties and off-field responsibilities.

''You put fear in people's hearts, and that's what he did,'' said Arizona Cardinals running back Edgerrin James, a former UMstar.

''Off the field, he kept it real low-key,'' James said. ``It was silly little things that people blew up and made them into this and that.But he was never a bad person.''

Friday's arrests might bring some comfort to his family, but it won't bring Taylor back to those who remember him with affection, like JosephMaxwell, one of his childhood barbers. Taylor used to sit in Maxwell's chair at his Richmond Heights shop every weekend. His request didn't change:clean-cut on the sides, a little longer on top -- a basic fade.

By the end of high school, Taylor stopped patronizing Maxwell's shop, but he never stopped coming by, even after his career took off.

''That's the thing about Sean,'' Maxwell said, ``He never forgot home. Never forgot his roots.''

 

[doublejs07]

I just found this on ESPN...I am not sure that if it was covered in this thread, but Le Batard talks about the way the media covered the ST murder.

Media has failed with Taylor coverage


I'm proud of this ridiculous thing I do for a living. It makes me happy. It is a lot of arrested-development fun. And it gives me the kind of power and platform I don't really deserve.

But there are times when being a journalist in today's climate embarrasses me. Makes me feel dirty and ashamed. I've always wondered why the reporters in the movies are so often portrayed as greasy, sneaky profiteers chasing the hero.

And then Sean Taylor dies in a terrible way, and it reminds me.

Journalism isn't very human sometimes. It isn't very compassionate or empathetic, either. Objectivity, the alleged bedrock of this profession, is both the excuse we hide under and a lie.

There are slants and shades in everything you read, hear and see as the line between Chris Wallace and Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly and Katie Couric and Geraldo Rivera becomes blurred and smeared as entertainaournalism. Asking emotional humans, with all their embedded prejudices and experiences and baggage, to be without bias (conscious or subconscious) is like asking night not to be dark. All we can do is aspire to clinical objectivity as professionals and hope that too many people don't get trampled and harmed when we inevitably fail.

CRUEL AND UNFAIR

And we've done some failing on this Taylor story. What happened to him and his family is cruel and unfair. That's it. It isn't endemic of a people or a region or a school. It is just unspeakably cruel and unspeakably unfair. I don't know how anyone could lack so much compassion that they would somehow blame a city or school or culture to this awfulness, as if a city or school or culture could possibly deserve something that brings this kind of sobbing and wailing.

And yet that's what Time Magazine and MSNBC and FOX and CNN and ESPN have wanted to discuss in recent days because the machine must stay fed, and it matters less and less what kind of garbage we throw into its insatiable maw and try to pass off as nutrition. Why does this keep happening in Miami -- the city and the university? What's going on down there? As if Taylor somehow brought this grief upon himself, as if South Florida brought it upon itself. The late Darrent Williams, killed in a drive-by at 24, isn't representative of Oklahoma State's thug culture. But Taylor, killed in his home at 24, is representative of the University of Miami's?

TOO MUCH GOSSIP

I can't imagine how terrible it must be for Taylor's broken family to watch the television and see their late son/brother/boyfriend turned into a talk topic and one-dimensional stick figure because we, the media, didn't and couldn't have a complete picture of their beloved and didn't have the time to wait for one to develop. We didn't have very much information immediately after Taylor's death, but we had too much time to fill without new information, so too much of Taylor's televised eulogy became noise and speculation and gossip-cloaked-in-journalism about his troubled past.

A DUI and a gun-waving incident aren't irrelevant, but they weren't all Taylor was, either. Brett Favre, rest assured, won't be eulogized with excessive emphasis on his pain-killer addiction, especially not if he were to die this horrifically. How do you think your grieving family would like to see you defined on television by your one or two worst public moments?

God bless him, Taylor's brave and tranquil father, suffering the worst pain a human can, has been as strong as anyone I've ever seen in front of TV cameras.

There would be plenty of people applauding, and no one blaming him, if he lashed out angrily at all the people trying to do their job on his lawn.

I just wish sometimes that my profession had more of his grace.


http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/columnists/dan_le_batard//story/324931.html

Props to DLBT for writing this

 

[T0INE]

Brett Favre, rest assured, won't be eulogized with excessive emphasis on his pain-killer addiction, especially not if he were to die this horrifically
That's the same thing I was thinking during all of the Sean Taylor media "coverage".

Great article by Le Betard

 

[assistantsupervisor81]

I wish they made his killers watch the moment of silence at Fed Ex field to see what they did impacted so many people.

 

[doublejs07]

An excerpt from what JB said today during pre-game

"Let me add my personal observations. An awful lot has been written and said about Sean Taylor over the past week. A young man without a doubt made mistakes, some foolish, some egregious and some immature and in no way am I looking to triviolize his transgressions or excuse them. But are those reasons enough for some to be so insensitive, so quick and I think so inaccurate in sterotyping Sean Taylor as a bad apple, or that the end he met with was not a surprise. A group of burgulers break into HIS HOUSE and surprise to find him there and end his life? Now by all accounts as we've heard from all those who actually knew him well, Taylor did an awful lot of maturing over the last year and a half. For those who have been mature for a lot longer than that, exercising restraint in passing such callaous and harmful judgement would seem to be in order..."


Well said....

 

[xxplosive22]

^^
Caught that earlier this morning...Very well said by JB

 

[fede dpt]

Originally Posted by l FR3SH l

Dont know if its been answered already but is there a reason his funeral is being held @ FIU instead of Miami?

For some reason alot of high profile funerals been held at my school, there was a Miami-Dade officer killed and they had it here and canceled classes forthe morning.....I guess maybe we can hold the high volume of people.

 

[bjm5295]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=sando_mike&id=3138481

Good article about the tribute. Actually made me teary eyed.

 

[dyyhard]

Tribute video played at game is on skins home page....********.com tv..

http://www.********.com/default.jsp

 

[themethod1186]

Not much to say at this point, I'm glad they caught the people who did this but unfortunately it changes nothing. I don't know if NFL.com still hasjerseys available, but for those of you who wanted a way to show support I noticed that you can make custom t-shirts and hoodies on the website. So you couldhave Sean's name and number, or have his number with some sort of message of your choice above it. What a tragedy, RIP Sean, hopefully you'll wake upsomewhere and remember your life as the best dream you've ever had.

 

[bayareaboss]

best play i think ill ever see in my life is when the ******** lined up with only 10 men on deffense to be honest kinda brought a tear to my eye. that is thebest thing i think they can do to honer him. i dont think they can replace a player like him

 

[mdterps4]

That tribute video brought tears to my eyes. Every time I think/see/talk/hear about Sean I get that heavy feeling in my throat.

 

[ii flash ii]

"We didn't come out with 10 men, we came out with 11," Fletcher said. "We decided to do that last night. We wanted to play defense with Sean Taylor on the field one more time."

Damn this right here is the realest thing I read...