Ex-Raider Robbins Is Shot, Critically Hurt

The strange spiral former Oakland Raider center Barret Robbins has traveled the last two years became more serious Saturday night, when he was shot and critically wounded by a Miami Beach police officer investigating a burglary.

Robbins, whose career began to tumble after he disappeared from the Raiders before the 2003 Super Bowl, was shot during a struggle with Det. Mike Muley and suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the torso.

The incident occurred on the second floor of an office building in South Beach. Robbins was taken to Ryder Trauma Center, where he is listed in critical but stable condition, according to Drew Pittman, his former agent.

Muley suffered minor head injuries during a “violent struggle,” Bobby Hernandez, a spokesman for the Miami Beach police, told Associated Press. Muley was treated and released.

“The officer was literally fighting for his life, trying to get Mr. Robbins from getting his gun. That’s when the shots rang out,” Hernandez said.

This was the latest, and most serious, event for Robbins, who has said he has bipolar disorder, the reason he gave for vanishing from the Raiders before the Super Bowl.

He was released by the Raiders in July, a week after he and two other players were fined three game checks for testing positive for the steroid THG. In December, Robbins was arrested in San Francisco for allegedly hitting a security guard at a nightclub.

Robbins, 31, is considered a burglary suspect but has yet to be charged. The office building is home to a nightclub, gym and jewelry store. Hernandez said that Robbins would face a charge of battery on an officer.

“This thing is definitely a bipolar incident,” Pittman said. “It is not too dissimilar than [the Super Bowl] two years ago, except that the thing became violent. He was not trying to rob anyone or break into the place. He probably didn’t even know what he was doing.”

Pittman said he and Robbins talked on the telephone before Christmas and he thought Robbins “wasn’t really doing too good.” Robbins had retired from football because of knee problems. He had started a recording studio in the Bay Area and a home-building business in Texas, yet “he was having a lot of ups and downs,” Pittman said.

Robbins spent nine seasons with the Raiders, but is best remembered for going AWOL before the Super Bowl. He later said that he had stopped taking his medicine for depression and bipolar disorder. He missed two meetings and a walk-through practice the Saturday before the game, then reappeared in the evening.

Bill Callahan, then the Raiders’ coach, said Robbins was incoherent when he returned.

The Raiders were routed by Tampa Bay, 48-21. Robbins spent the game in the hospital. His problems became so severe that he spent 30 days in a treatment facility for a mental disorder and alcohol abuse during the winter of 2003.