Redskins’ Taylor shot in his home

MIAMI -- Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor remained in critical condition in a Miami hospital Monday night after being shot early in the morning in his Miami home.

Taylor squeezed a doctor’s hand and made facial expressions early in the evening, Redskins officials and a family friend said, providing some hope after he emerged from seven hours of surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital that left him “unresponsive and unconscious” and doctors fearing possible brain injury or death, according to Taylor’s attorney, Richard Sharpstein.

“He’s doing better than when they first brought him to the hospital,” said Donald Walker, who identified himself as a friend of Taylor’s mother, in a telephone interview Monday night. “He’s unconscious, but he’s somewhat responsive, I guess you could say that. When the doctor asked him to squeeze his hand, he did it.”

Taylor, 24, confronted one or more intruders early Monday morning at the bedroom door of the house he shares with his fiancee and 18-month-old daughter, and was shot in the upper thigh near the femoral artery, Sharpstein said. The fiancee and child were uninjured, but Taylor lost significant amounts of blood and received a number of transfusions, according to Sharpstein and a source at the hospital.

No further surgical procedures were planned for Taylor, who was placed in intensive care, but doctors expressed concern his brain could have been damaged from lack of oxygen, Sharpstein said. A Redskins team source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Taylor’s heart stopped beating twice during surgery.

“We’d heard [about the situation] and what they told us was to hope for a miracle,” said Redskins vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato, who flew to Miami with Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, running back Clinton Portis and other team officials on Snyder’s private jet.

News of Taylor’s situation spread quickly through Redskins Park, the team’s training facility in Ashburn, Va. Normal team activities were suspended and players were dismissed. Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs and team chaplain Brett Fuller addressed the club about noon, informing them Taylor was fighting for his life.

“For all of us here, we’re obviously in shock,” a shaken Gibbs told reporters. “I know I can’t put it into words.”

Taylor, the Redskins’ top draft choice in 2004 who was selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time last year, was having his best season as a professional before suffering a knee injury Nov. 11 that forced him to miss the last two games.

Miami-Dade police responded to a 911 call about 1:40 a.m. Monday at his home in an upscale suburb known as Palmetto Bay, a police spokesman said.

No arrests were made. In a statement, Miami-Dade police said a preliminary investigation indicated that Taylor had been shot by an intruder, but that the investigation was not complete.

Just before the shooting, Taylor was awakened by a noise in his living room, Sharpstein said. As the shooter or shooters approached Taylor’s bedroom, he reached for a machete or other form of knife he keeps nearby in case of emergency, and two shots were fired, one striking his leg in the groin area.

Cerrato said Taylor’s fiancee tried to call police from the house line, only to discover that the line had been cut. She had to use her cellphone to call 911, which delayed the response time.

“This was a deliberate attack,” Cerrato said without elaborating.

About 30 of Taylor’s friends and family kept vigil in the trauma center waiting room throughout the day.

The shooting came eight days after another incident was reported at Taylor’s home. An intruder pried open a front window, went through drawers and a safe and left a kitchen knife on a bed, according to the police report of the Nov. 18 incident.

There was no security system at Taylor’s house, said Emory Williams, a cousin of Taylor.

The safety has had several brushes with the law. Taylor was charged with a felony count of aggravated assault with a firearm for allegedly brandishing a gun in a Miami neighborhood in 2005. Taylor reached a plea agreement and avoided jail time.

Portis, a former University of Miami teammate, said Taylor had grown up considerably since the birth of his daughter, Jackie, in May 2006.

“Ever since he had this child it was like a new Sean,” Portis said before departing for Miami. “And everybody around here knew it. He was always smiling, always happy, always talking about his child.”