Chris Johnson, a running back for the New York Jets, was injured early Sunday morning during a drive-by shooting, which left one man dead and another injured, in Orlando.
The shooting happened just after 4 a.m., blocks from the Florida Mall, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to The Orlando Sentinel. When deputies arrived at the scene, they found a Jeep with the driver dead inside.
The injured victims - Johnson, 29, and Reggie Johnson, 29, were on the sidewalk. They told deputies that they had been shot at while sitting at a red light. They did not recognize the vehicle the shots were fired from.
The driver was Dreekius Johnson, 28. According to the Daily News, it is not known if the other two men in the Jeep are related to Johnson.
TMZ’s sources said that Johnson had just left a concert and was going to a recording studio. One source said that he was leaning back in the Jeep, texting, which may have saved his life.
Authorities are still searching for the shooters.
Johnson was previously arrested in January in Orlando, when he was pulled over and police found two semiautomatic handguns in his car.
The running back had started a promising career with the Tennessee Titans and was the 2009 NFL Offensive Player of the Year. However, he had a terrible 2014 season with the Jets, who declined to pick up his option. He will become a free agent on Tuesday.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com