While Vince Wilfork was preparing for the Houston Texans’ contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars, tragedy struck one of his childhood friends.
Corey Jones, a 31-year-old drummer who went to high school with Wilfork, was shot and killed by Palm Beach Gardens (Fla.) police officer Nouman Raja early Sunday morning.
According to the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department, Raja was in plainclothes when he pulled over on Interstate 95 to inspect Jones’ broken-down vehicle and was confronted by an “armed subject,” who Raja shot multiple times.
A gun was found on the scene, but Jones’ attorneys claim he did not fire his weapon and his car had broken down on his way home from a show.
Wilfork, who will travel to the Miami area this weekend when the Texans play the Dolphins, addressed the media about the news Thursday.
“It’s a tough situation to be in, especially for the immediate family,” Wilfork said, via the team’s official website. “But at the same time, everything has consequences. We’re working now hard to figure things out. We’re going to continue to get justice and that’s how it is right now.
” … The crazy thing is it’s not the first time this has happened. We’ve seen a lot of this going on in society, but especially when it affects you personally, when it’s your own family, that’s for me to be in the spot that I’m in, it just gives me an opportunity to speak about it. I’m not bashful about speaking about it. I have tons of respect for law enforcement. I have friends that are police officers and cops, so I have nothing against them.
“But at the same time, we’re dealing with somebody that was shot dead. We have to figure it out as a society. Not just this case, but the cases that have been going on for a while now. We have to try and figure out a solution. I think everybody needs to be held accountable, plain and simple.”
Thumbnail photo via Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports Images
