Four people have been arrested in connection to the shooting of Florida State linebacker Ethan Pritchard , Florida Department of Law Enforc...
Four people have been arrested in connection to the shooting of Florida State linebacker Ethan Pritchard, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Mark Glass said Wednesday.
When Pritchard was attacked last month outside an apartment, Glass stated that he was "not doing anything wrong." He added that Pritchard was being shot in the back of the head while dropping off an aunt and a child from his family.
Pritchard, a six-foot-two, 224-pound freshman from Sanford, remains in critical but stable condition at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.
According to the Gadsden County Sheriff's Office, he was shot on August 31 while inside a vehicle outside Havana apartments. Authorities believe Pritchard's shooting was a case of mistaken identity, according to Morris Young, sheriff of Gadsden County.
Jayden Bodison, Caron Miller, Germany Atkins and an unnamed minor have been arrested in connection with the shooting, the FDLE said.
Bodison, Miller and the juvenile were charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle. Atkins was charged with one count of probation violation.
It was not immediately clear if any of the accused had attorneys.
Pritchard did not play in Florida State’s season opener, a 31-17 victory Saturday over No. 8 Alabama on August 30 in Tallahassee “I recruited him for years, got a chance to watch him grow,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said Saturday. “The way that he plays the game, it’s a passion, energy. He loves it, absolutely loves it.
"You don't always know why you have to go through things in life. To know that that's taken away from him right now in a senseless act." You don’t understand the reasoning. But I do believe that God has his hand over Ethan and this football team and just all the relationships.”
Ethan’s father, Earl, attended Florida State’s win over East Texas A&M on Saturday. He was on the sideline and in the locker room afterward.
“He’s a wonderful man,” Norvell said. And because I'm with him, I know how difficult it must be for anyone to go through. However, earlier this week he informed me, "I know where my boy wants to be, so I'm going to stand in his place for him."
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