The National Football League's Sean Taylor, a star defensive player for the Washington Redskins, died yesterday after being shot at his home near Miami, said family friend Richard Sharpstein.

 

Taylor, 24, who was the Redskins' first pick in the 2004 draft, was shot in the leg, severing his femoral artery, during an apparent home robbery on Monday.

 

He was airlifted to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment but died from his wound after heavy blood loss, local affiliates of CBS News and ABC News said.

 

"His father called and said he was with Christ and he cried and thanked me," said Richard Sharpstein, Taylor's former lawyer and family friend. "It's a tremendously sad and unnecessary event. He was a wonderful, humble, talented young man, and had a huge life in front of him. Obviously, God had other plans."

 

He said he did not know exactly when Taylor died.

 

Doctors had been encouraged late Monday night when Taylor squeezed a nurse's hand. But Sharpstein said he was told Taylor never regained consciousness after being transported to the hospital and that he wasn't sure how he had squeezed the nurse's hand.

 

"Maybe he was trying to say goodbye or something," Sharpstein said.

 

The Miami Herald reported that Taylor and other occupants of the house heard intruders at the rear door and Taylor was shot in the leg.

 

Sharpstein said Taylor's girlfriend told him the couple was awakened by loud noises, and Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection. Someone then broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor, Sharpstein said. Taylor's one-year-old daughter, Jackie, was also in the house at the time, but neither she nor Taylor's girlfriend were injured.

 

Police said they were called at 1:45 AM by a woman who said Taylor had been shot.

 

"We've yet to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting," said Miami-Dade Police spokeswoman Kathy Webb.

 

Miami-Dade Police Lt. Nancy Perez, speaking to reporters outside Taylor's home, said Taylor "was shot in the lower extremities. He was airlifted to Ryder Trauma (center at Jackson Memorial Hospital) in critical condition."

 

"It could have been a possible burglary; it could have been a possible robbery," Perez said. "It has not been confirmed as yet."

 

Taylor, a college star with the University of Miami, bought the four-bedroom home in Palmetto Bay, a village just south of Miami, for US$900,000 two years ago.

 

The hard-hitting safety had five interceptions this season but had been sidelined the last two weeks with a leg injury.

 

Taylor had a run-in with the law two years ago stemming from a gun-related incident.

 

He was charged with three felony counts of aggravated assault with a weapon and one count each of simple assault and simple battery in connection with a June 2005 incident where he was accused of waving a gun at a group of people he suspected of stealing his all-terrain vehicle.

 

He could have faced up to 46 years in prison.

 

In June 2006 he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery charges and prosecutors dropped the more serious felony charges.

 

(Agencies via China Daily November 28, 2007)