Posted on 11/07/2006 9:16:08 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
Miami Defensive End Shot to Death Pata Shot After Leaving Practice Field By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports University of Miami defensive lineman Bryan Pata was shot and killed Tuesday night, shortly after leaving the practice field, school officials said.
Miami Player Shot and Killed
AP Miami's Bryan Pata was shot and killed shortly after practice Tuesday night.
Talk About It: Share Your Condolences
The shooting occurred at the apartment complex where Pata lived, about 4 miles from campus. His death was ruled a homicide, Miami-Dade police spokesman Roy Rutland said.
"Right now, we're just gathering ourselves and just trying to pull ourselves together," Miami athletic director Paul Dee said.
Rutland said police were called at 7:30 p.m. to the scene and found Pata's body in the parking lot. The 22-year-old senior who grew up in Miami was pronounced dead at the scene.
The circumstances around Pata's death were not immediately clear, and Miami-Dade police did not say who made the 911 call after the shooting.
The 6-foot-4, 280-pound lineman was in his fourth year with the Hurricanes. He appeared in 41 games, making 23 starts, and was expected to be selected in next spring's NFL draft.
Word spread quickly around campus, and grief counselors were quickly summoned to work with Pata's teammates.
Most Popular Sports Stories Seahawks Rack Up Nine Sacks in WinFlorida Receiver Stabbed in FightWhere, Oh Where Will Bonds Land?Tiger Announces Plan to Build CoursesDefend Champ Picked Preseason No. 1Annette Ponnock, Miami's student body president, said Pata - a fierce player on the field and a somewhat soft-spoken one off it - was well known and popular on campus.
"Everyone is just more surprised than anything else," Ponnock said. "He's such a personality on campus. It was just really, really shocking to have such a loss. ... He was a big guy so it was kind of hard to miss him. He just had a presence about him."
The Hurricanes used Pata primarily at defensive tackle this season, and he had 13 tackles and two sacks.
Miami is supposed to play at No. 23 Maryland Saturday. There has not been any announcement about whether that game will happen as scheduled.
Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford was aware of the shooting and was working with Miami officials to gather information, conference spokeswoman Amy Yakola said.
It was at least the fourth time that tragedy involving a player has struck the Hurricanes in recent years.
In April 1996, reserve linebacker and Miami native Marlin Barnes was murdered in a campus apartment. And in 2003, former Miami safety Al Blades was killed in a car accident, about a year after former Miami linebacker Chris Campbell - who had just completed his eligibility with the Hurricanes - also died in a crash.
Pata's death was the second incident involving guns this season for the Hurricanes.
In July, reserve safety Willie Cooper was shot in the buttocks when confronted in his yard before an early morning workout. Cooper was not seriously injured. Brandon Meriweather, one of Cooper's teammates and roommates, returned fire at Cooper's assailant, taking three shots that apparently missed, police said.
Several Miami players, including Pata, said that incident was a robbery attempt, and cautioned other teammates to always be aware of their surroundings.
"We're targets because we play for the University of Miami.
These guys, they know who we are," Miami linebacker Jon Beason said shortly after the Cooper shooting.
That incident prompted Miami coach Larry Coker to say that he did not want his players to have guns, even if they possessed them legally.
I wonder if this was retaliation for that brawl weeks ago. This guy was right int he thick of it.
Quite. I visited the area several times and while I have seen the nice houses in Coral Gables and the Grove, I have also seen the poverty sticken and crime infested areas that are none too far from campus. What's the street called that leads into the back of the Grove that U Miami kids are told not to walk home, Grand Ave? I was there for a Goombay Festival about 10 years ago and it looked as bad as anything I have ever seen.
Yeah...but the Miami football program is made up of goons, thugs, and assorted other scum. Case in point - the Miami-FIU fight and the university's subsequent (non) reaction.
"Miami Defensive End Shot to Death Pata Shot After Leaving Practice Field By TIM REYNOLDS AP"
- i hope mr reynolds gets a good lawyer who can overturn his confession and gloating about this dispicable act of senseless violence... the victim probably refused to give an interview, but that's no reason to shoot him.
teeman
Isn't U of Miami run by the Clintonista, Donna "No Free Speech/We need to raise the tax rate on April 15th" Shalayla?
A Miami Hurricane player involved in something violet. SHOCKING! Next you're going to tell me that rappers are violet also.
Any word from Donna Shalala?
My sincere condolences to Mr. Plata's loved ones and his Hurricanes football family.
Bushite is correct. I got my LLM at the University of Miami and lived in Coral Gables until last year, so I know what I'm talking about. The neighborhood around UM has beautiful homes that only the wealthy can afford. It's a status symbol to live there.
There are some bad spots across US 1, like around Coconut Grove, but there are bad spots throughout Miami. More than once, I've made a wrong turn and ended up in a bad place that I couldn't get out of quickly enough. I would be very surprised if this player was living in one of those areas.
Having graduated from LSU, I've never been much of a UM football fan, but I'm sad to hear of this young man's death.
Hey, I'm an alumna of UM (now living in Europe and having been nowhere near that game) and I received two very stern emails from Donna Shalala, saying this type of conduct would not be tolerated, blah, blah, blah. I felt sufficiently reprimanded for my (non-)actions. Doesn't that count as a reaction?
I'm not a fan of Miami, but that is a genuine tragedy.
???
The U of M is in Coral Gables, one of the upscale to wealthy areas in Miami.
LOL, that's bad!
As many have already stated, UM is in a nice neighborhood. I practically grew up on the UM campus, and lets just say that it was a nice life.
This incident happened 4 miles from campus. Now, 4 miles from UM puts you in some bad hoods. Of course, I could find a bad hood 4 miles from ANY big-city college.
Its a shame, but anyone who knows UM and follows UM football realizes that this team is nothing...nothing...like the UM teams of the late 80's/early 90's, who were, indeed, hard-core hoodlums.
He played footbal and maybe his character or actions were not of your taste, but was he a criminal?
Was his life so undeserving that we can poke fun at him? Plesae people, let us seperate ourselves from the left and show that we can behave with a bit more class in this situation.
Aware of that and I have mentioned that Coral Gables and the Grove are wealthy in my previous posts. However, you do not have to go real far to get into a bad neighborhood. I know, I have been there.
lighten up francis...
humor happens to other people... it is human nature... it is only a tragedy when it happens to oneself.
teeman
That is true. East of LeJeune Road, esp. to 37th ave, and South of Dixie Hwy. (US 1) is a rough area.
I was born in Miami and lived 42 yrs. of my life in the SW section.
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