Brother Held in Slaying of Former Football Player

Rodney Dwight Traylor, a former San Jose State football player who police said was shot by his brother during an argument over Traylor’s alleged cocaine use in the Santa Ana house they shared, died Tuesday.

Before he was arrested, Santa Ana police said, Reginald Fredrick Traylor, 27, told investigators that his younger brother had been selling cocaine from the house in the presence of the elder Traylor’s six children. He also said the younger brother had absconded with about $500 of his savings and--moments before the shooting--attempted to steal his disability check.

Reginald Traylor’s wife, Janice, told police her brother-in-law had offered cocaine to the oldest--at 5 and 6 years old--of their six children.

“He had just had enough,” said Gary Bruce, the Santa Ana police detective who interviewed the elder brother.

Rodney Traylor, 26, was shot once in the groin with a .38-caliber handgun Monday and died about 9 a.m. Tuesday at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Collie Provence.

Moments after the shooting, Bruce said, Reginald Traylor--who had asked a neighbor to notify police and waited for officers to arrive--was taken into custody in the driveway of the Pine Street home where he and his brother had been raised. He was being held on $250,000 bail on suspicion of murder.

However, investigators said Reginald Traylor, who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 185 pounds, told them he armed himself with the gun only after an argument over the disability check escalated and he was threatened by the former football player, who was 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds.

Led Team in Tackles

Rodney Traylor graduated in 1977 from Valley High School in Santa Ana, played football at Long Beach City College and transferred to San Jose State in 1979, said Lawrence Fan, sports information director at the university. Fan said Traylor led the team in tackles as a senior in 1980 and was on the All-PCAA second team the same year.

In 1981, he tried out for the San Diego Chargers, but a team spokesman said Tuesday that he was cut during training camp because he was “undersized for a defensive end in professional football.”

More recently, the younger Traylor had volunteered to help coach freshman football players at Mater Dei High School. Head football coach Chuck Gallo said he was not a paid staff member but was told a few days ago that he could work for free as an assistant. He “seemed like a nice guy,” Gallo said.

Reginald Traylor, a construction worker on disability since he fell from a scaffold and ruptured a disc in his back about a year ago, was mostly just disgusted with his brother’s drug activities, Bruce said.

Money Said to Be Missing

The discord between the brothers had been brewing, Bruce said, since the younger Traylor--who moved in with his brother two years ago--allegedly started using and selling cocaine at the house a month or two ago. The older brother claimed that half of the $1,100 he had put in a shared safe deposit box was missing and that Rodney Traylor had tried to steal the bimonthly disability check he expected in the mailbox Monday morning, Bruce said.

“He said his brother told him if he was going to point the gun at him he better shoot it and came at him,” Bruce said. “Reggie said he was aiming low for a leg but he hit the femoral artery, and there was a lot of blood . . . more than I’ve seen at any other crime scene.”

Although an autopsy will be conducted today to determine the exact cause of death, Bruce said Rodney Traylor apparently died from loss of blood.