RIP Sean Taylor.

From the AP via ESPN:

"According to a preliminary investigation, it appears that the victim was shot inside the home by an intruder," Miami-Dade County police said in a statement.

But police were still investigating the attack, which came just eight days after an intruder was reported at Taylor's home. Officers were dispatched about 1:45 a.m. Monday after Taylor's girlfriend called 911.

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 1-year-old daughter, Jackie, was also in the house, but neither she nor Taylor's girlfriend were injured.

Police found signs of forced entry, but have not determined if they were caused Monday, or the previous burglary.

The shooting happened in the pale yellow house he bought two years ago in the Miami suburb of Palmetto Bay. Eight days before the attack someone pried open a front window, rifled through drawers and left a kitchen knife on a bed at Taylor's home, according to police.

"They're really sifting through that incident and today's incident," Miami-Dade Detective Mario Rachid said, "to see if there's any correlation."

Born April 1, 1983, Taylor starred as a running back and defensive back at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami.

He was a hell of a player, and that's a shady way to go out. I hope they catch whoever did this. Reports don't list any missing items from the Taylor home, and by the nearby machete, he obviously felt threatened by something. But this seems different than the summer's Chicago area home invasions of Antoine Walker's and Eddy Curry's homes and closer to Darrent Williams' shooting-- senseless, and a cause for security concerns for athletes. Why? Neighborhood connections? Reputation? Earlier altercations? One day maybe we'll know a little more.