Patriots Safety Brandon Meriweather Wrongly Accused in Florida Shooting

This article debuted on SportsHaze.com/Boston

Deadspin.com, a less-than-reputable news source, is reporting that New England Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather was involved in a shooting outside of a house party in Apopka, Florida, where he once played high school football.

Meriweather is being accused of shooting two men after a brawl inside a house spilled outside.

The 27 year old former first-round pick allegedly pulled out a weapon once outside the home and began shooting.

One man was reportedly "grazed" while the other was reportedly hit in the head. The two victims are being represented by John Morgan, an attorney specializing in personal injury cases. 

"He's extremely lucky to be alive," Morgan said in reference to the man who sustained the head injury.

The two men reportedly attended Apopka High School with Meriweather, but there is no word yet on whether or not the parties knew each other.

At this point, the information that has been released is originating from completely unverified sources and there has been no statement or arrests made regarding the case.

Meriweather has had his character concerns in the past while playing for the Miami Hurricanes and has had minor attitude issues in his time with New England, but his transgressions have never reached the point of gun violence.

Considering the information that has been released, it appears highly unlikely that Meriweather is going to be found guilty of the alleged crime. It sounds much more like a professional athlete being named in a crime because of his name and stature.

At least, that's the hope.

In any event this will not help Meriweather's chances of staying in New England. The young safety is coming off of a tumultuous season which saw him benched on two separate occasions yet he was still selected to the Pro-Bowl. Meriweather is in the last year of his contract and due to escalators his 2011 salary will be hiked from $650,000 to $1.65 million.

UPDATE:

Ian Rapport has tweeted that Brandon Meriweather's legal guardian, Tim Barnes has publicly denied the allegations the Patriots' safety was involved in the shooting.

WEEI Boston spoke with John Morgan, the lawyer for the two men accusing Meriweather, early this morning. In the interview Morgan said that he doesn't know if the safety was the shooter or not.

Greg Beddard of the Boston Globe tweeted that a source who was close to Meriweather told him the New England Patriot was not involved in the incident.