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Ex-Miami football player Rashaun Jones charged in ‘06 murder of teammate Bryan Pata
Former University of Miami football player Rashaun Jones has been arrested on a first-degree charge murder in the shooting death of his teammate Bryan Pata in 2006.
nypost.com
Ex-Miami football player Rashaun Jones charged in ‘06 murder of teammate Bryan Pata
By Ryan Dunleavy
Published Aug. 19, 2021, 4:41 p.m. ET
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Former University of Miami football player Rashaun Jones has been arrested on a first-degree charge murder in connection with the death of his teammate Bryan Pata in 2006, according to the Miami Herald.
The 15-year cold case drew renewed attention last year when ESPN wrote a story naming Jones, 35, as a “suspect” listed in police records for the first time. Pata was a 22-year-old defensive lineman on a path to the NFL when he was shot in the back of the head and killed outside an apartment complex.
Pata’s girlfriend formerly dated Jones, and Pata had beaten up Jones at least twice when romantic relationships caused tension, the report said. That prompted Jones to warn Pata that he better get a gun in self-defense, according to ESPN.
On the same day Pata was murdered, Jones was suspended from the football team for his third failed marijuana test. He also skipped the meeting called by coaches after word of Pata’s death began to spread, according to ESPN. Jones allegedly asked a friend for money to leave town that night and changed his phone number.
No eyewitnesses to the shooting ever came forward.
Jones was arrested in Lake City, Fla. as part of a joint operation between Miami-Dade County police and the U.S. Marshals office, according to NBC6 in Miami.
Pata’s family long believed jealousy was the motive for the murder.
“He wanted to make it to the NFL and make my mother proud and he wanted to help his family,” brother Edrick Pata told NBC 6 in 2017. “I believe it was more so the jealousy, a lot of jealousy. The way Bryan carried himself, he was very bold, he was confident in what he did, he was confident he was going to graduate college, he was confident he was going to get drafted to the NFL.”