Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier was shot at around 2:45 AM on Tuesday while waiting for some women outside an apartment in a middle to upper-middle class neighborhood just west of downtown Jacksonville and blocks from the St. Johns River. Authorities said that he sustained life-threatening injuries.
The 26-year old from Shreveport, Louisiana was alongside ex-teammate Kenneth Pettway in a car when a gunman shot into the vehicle. Collier got hit several times, but it wasn’t clear where exactly he got hit.
Collier was listed in critical condition at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center. Nobody knows why the gunman shot Collier. Pettway, who was released on Saturday, wasn’t injured in the attack.
Collier is now the third NFL player to be shot in the past 18 months, but the only one of the three to survive the shooting (for now at least). Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was shot and killed during a supposed botched burglary attempt at his Miami-area home in November 2007. Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed when he was shot in a limosuine minutes after leaving a New Year’s party at a downtown Denver club just two hours into 2007.
