Former NFL star Antonio Brown is accused of trying to kill a man with a gun he took from a security staffer outside a boxing event in Miami, according to a newly released warrant.
Brown, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, is facing one charge of attempted second-degree murder. The warrant was signed Wednesday, nearly a month after the incident took place. He was released the night of the shooting because the victim could not be found, according to police.
A little before midnight on May 16, Miami Police arrived at 221 NE 67th St. after reports of shots being fired, according to the warrant. When officers got there, Florida Highway Patrol troopers had already detained Brown.
An FHP lieutenant told police that he was working inside of the celebrity boxing event when several people told him shots had been fired outside, according to the warrant. Several attendees of the event identified Brown as the shooter.
When the lieutenant went outside, he said he saw Brown involved in a physical fight with another man. He yelled for them to stop, and they did. Troopers detained Brown, but the the man he was fighting with “was not located by officers,” according to the warrant.
“Due to the absence of identified victims at the time, Mr. Brown was released,” the warrant states.
The next day, police officers found surveillance footage from a nearby building, which showed a fight taking place in which three men, including Brown, began attacking a man, according to the warrant. Brown initiated the fight by punching the other man in the face.
Security staff broke up the fight, at which point Brown grappled with one of the security staff members, grabbing the gun off of his hip, according to the footage.
Cellphone footage posted on social media showed Brown approaching the other man with the gun, then the sound of gunshots as the target ducked his head, according to the footage.
When detectives located the suspected victim a few days later, he had visible injuries and said that Brown had tried to kill him, according to the warrant. The fight began as a verbal altercation that turned physical when Brown punched him in the face, he said. Then Brown shot at him, “possibly grazing him in the neck,” before they got into a struggle on the ground.
When police arrived, Brown hid the gun in a “dark colored garment,” the suspected victim said, according to the warrant.
Brown played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2010 to 2018, where he emerged as one of the NFL’s top receiving threats and twice led the league in receiving yards. His career took a downturn because of various on- and off-field issues, including his contract being voided by the Oakland Raiders before the start of the 2019 season.
He split his final three NFL seasons with New England and Tampa Bay.
Information from the Associated Press is used in this report