On November 27, 2007, Washington Redskins player Sean Taylor was shot inside his Florida home while trying to protect his family during a botched burglary.
On Nov. 26, 2007, a group of intruders broke into the Florida home of Washington Redskins player Sean Taylor while he, his girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, and their 18-month-old infant slept. The noise startled them awake; Taylor told Garcia to hide and grabbed a machete to ward off the intruders. Unfortunately, one of them shot him and fled.
Taylor was rushed to the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. The bullet had severed a femoral artery, and he was losing blood fast. After hours of surgery while Taylor was comatose, he died before he could speak to detectives and help catch his killer.
Police soon arrested the four men involved in the home invasion, but it would take another seven years before his killer, Eric Rivera, received his sentence.
Sean Taylor’s Early Life And Career
Sean Michael Maurice Taylor was born on April 1, 1983, in Florida City, Florida, to Pedro Taylor and Donna Junor. As a kid, he gravitated towards football, eventually playing for Miami Killian Senior High School before transferring to Gulliver Prep School and playing for the Gulliver Prep Raiders. He also ran track and played for the school’s basketball team.
By the time he left prep school, numerous colleges had their eyes on him. He was a star athlete and honors student who, according to Pro Football History, was named the seventh-ranked prospect in Dade County.By the time he left prep school, numerous colleges had their eyes on him. He was a star athlete and honors student who, according to Pro Football History, was named the seventh-ranked prospect in Dade County.
Evidently, that bet paid off. In 2004, the Washington Redskins drafted Taylor fifth in the draft overall, offering him a six-year contract. And despite a few minor incidents early on — being summoned by police for an investigation into shots fired at a stolen vehicle, and a uniform violation — Taylor’s career was off to a strong start.
The Botched Home Burglary That Killed Sean Taylor
As Taylor was entering his fourth season with the Redskins, he sustained a knee injury that left him temporarily unable to play. Of course, he still traveled with the team, so he was away from Florida on Nov. 18, 2007 — the first time his home was broken into.
The Miami Herald reported that in this first instance, the intruder entered the home, rifled through some drawers and a safe, and left a kitchen knife on the bed. Other than that, the incident passed without much fanfare or notice.
A week later, however, the team’s schedule brought them to Tampa, and Taylor, still unable to play, decided to spend some time at his Palmetto Bay home with his girlfriend and child while waiting to get a second opinion on his knee. Unfortunately, the group of burglars who decided to hit Taylor’s home didn’t get the memo that he was going to be at his home that night.
