Dallas police concluded in their investigation into Aqib Talib’s bullet wound that the cornerback shot himself.
Talib received a gunshot wound to his right thigh and calf on June 5. He exited the hospital without surgery the following day. He has nevertheless started all four games for the Denver Broncos this season, intercepting three passes and looking every bit the Pro Bowler he has been for the last three years.
The cornerback remains guarded about the incident. The cops initially reported the culprit as “an unknown suspect.” They say they now know the culprit. WFAA reports that despite Talib’s initial claim that someone else shot him the cops believe that he accidentally shot himself.
New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress spent nearly two years in prison for a similar incident in New York that occurred in 2008. But Texas views firearms quite differently than the Empire State. The police do not look to pursue Talib in the matter.
The NFL may prove less lenient. In recent years, the league has enforced a ban, in effect at its venues everywhere but its two Texas stadiums, on firearms, even those carried by off-duty police officers. The league prohibits employees, including players, from possessing firearms at franchise facilities, traveling on team buses, and even in the stadium parking lot.
“In some circumstances, such as for sport or protection, you may legally possess a firearm or other weapon,” the league’s policy states. “However, we strongly recommend that you not do so.”
Talib exercised his right to remain silent in this case. He likely did so not to escape the consequences of Texas Justice but but to elude the punishment of the harsher, one-man law at 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan. There, the right to remain silent, like the right to keep and bear arms, does not exist.