Probe Begins in Taylor's Death

"It's [too] early to say at this point" what happened, Miami-Dade police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta said. "Twenty-four hours in a homicide case is equivalent to 10 minutes in real time."

Taylor's father, Pedro Taylor, the police chief in nearby Florida City, said Tuesday night he spoke with Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, who told him she had deployed investigators to assist the police with the case.

The family, meantime, announced it had not finalized funeral arrangements. Friends said the family wanted to schedule a service that could be attended by Taylor's teammates and friends around the NFL, and were working with the league to do so with an eye on next Tuesday, a customary day off for players. The Redskins will play a rare Thursday night game at home next week.

As investigators interviewed witnesses and removed evidence, including a computer hard drive, from Taylor's residence in a tony section of suburban Miami called Palmetto Bay, Taylor's family and friends assembled at the home of Taylor's paternal grandmother, seeking support and explanations that they said were slow in coming.

Dozens of people huddled inside the small house or gathered on the small front porch and front yard as dozens of parked cars made the street nearly impassable.

"Everyone's just in the dark, waiting for some answers from investigators," family friend Steven Taylor said.

The available facts were sparse. Police said only that Taylor, his girlfriend Jackie Garcia and 18-month-old daughter, Jackie, were in the house at the time the intruder or intruders entered. Taylor had flown to Miami on Saturday night, taken a 30-mile bike ride and watched football Sunday, then gone to bed at about 8:15 p.m., a team source said. It is unclear whether Taylor had installed or turned on a security alarm system at the house -- accounts from family and friends differed.

Sharpstein said Taylor reached under his bed for a machete he kept in the bedroom after being awakened by noise in the living room. Garcia grabbed the baby from the crib in their bedroom and cowered in the bed. Taylor's father said Garcia, his son's high school sweetheart, probably could not have identified anyone in the darkness, and he added that the intruder kicked in the bedroom door before firing.

"Maybe this is a case where someone got startled," Pedro Taylor said.

Pedro Taylor said his son likely had the machete not for self-defense, but because he enjoyed gardening and yardwork. He said he did not know whether his son had been targeted by enemies, and had not received any information on the shooter from police.

"I don't know," he said. "I can't say. Everybody says Sean is a bad guy who has enemies. [But] Sean is an isolated person who stays to himself."

Pedro Taylor said he was not overly concerned about what authorities described as a burglary at his son's residence between 7 p.m. and midnight Nov. 17. No one was home when the break-in occurred. The police report said the intruder pried open a window to gain entry, rifled through drawers and left a knife on a bed. Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs excused Sean Taylor from team meetings to deal with the burglary, but he later rejoined the team.