Washington Redskins first-round draft pick Sean Taylor of Miami, left, holds up a Redskins jersey with coach Joe Gibbs during a news conference in Ashburn, Va., on April 26, 2004. AP file photo   Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell covers his face while leaving a news conference to talk about the shooting death of teammate Sean Taylor at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va., today. AP Photo/Kevin Wolf

MIAMI — The shooting of NFL star Sean Taylor has now turned into a high-profile murder investigation, with homicide detectives searching for leads from Palmetto Bay to Perrine to try to piece together a crime that has garnered national attention.

Taylor, a Washington Redskins defensive back, died Tuesday morning, a day after he was shot by an intruder at his home in Palmetto Bay.

He was 24.

The one-time standout with the Miami Hurricanes died at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he was airlifted after the shooting Monday morning.

Shot in the groin, he suffered massive blood loss from a severed femoral artery. Surgery conducted later in the afternoon could not save him, although he was able to squeeze a doctor's hand, giving his family reason for hope.

That hope was crushed before dawn Tuesday.

Family and other loved ones, who maintained a vigil overnight, were seen leaving the hospital in tears. Taylor's girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, who was in the bedroom with Taylor when he was shot, could not be reached for comment.

Taylor's father, Pedro Taylor, and his family issued a statement honoring Sean and saying funeral arrangements would be announced soon.

"It is with deep regret that a young man had to come to his end so soon," Pedro Taylor's statement said. "Many of his fans loved him because of the way he played football. Many of his opponents feared him, the way he approached the game. Others misunderstood him, many appreciated him and his family loved him. I can only hope and pray that Sean's life was not in vain, that it might touch others in a special way."

The gunman remained on the loose.

"It's still early in the investigation and homicide detectives are still working this case," Miami-Dade police spokesman Robert Williams said Tuesday. "They're seeking anyone that will be able to help us, anyone that might have seen or heard anything is urged to call Miami-Dade CrimeStoppers at 305-471-TIPS."

Richard Sharpstein, Taylor's attorney, called his death "a tragic, horrible, unnecessary death—another example of the incessant violence in this city and this country."

According to Sharpstein and friends, Garcia and Taylor had been dating since high school at Gulliver Preparatory, and attended the University of Miami together. The couple had their first baby, who is also named Jackie, last year. The baby slept in a crib in the bedroom with her parents, and did not wake up during the shooting.

His client, born and raised in west Perrine, was a paradox. On and off in recent years, he found himself in trouble with the law and once was fined by the NFL for spitting in the face of an adversary. But he was also praised by teammates and others for his kindness and maturity, especially since the birth of his infant daughter.

"The public perception was that he was an outcast," said Clinton Portis, a teammate with both the Hurricanes and the Redskins. `He wasn't. He just was `to himself.' There wasn't anything about him thuggish. Off the field he was quiet, nice, friendly, fun to be around. A character...."

Portis, shocked and somber, was sitting with friends Tuesday morning in Colonial Drive Park, a collection of tennis and basketball courts next to the home of Taylor's father, Pedro, who is the police chief in Florida City.

Moments later, Pedro Taylor arrived, and Portis went inside the home to comfort him.

Another teammate, Redskins receiver James Thrash, said: "From the first day I met him, from then to now, it's just like night and day."

Through their website, the Redskins released a statement from owner Daniel M. Snyder, who flew to Miami Monday with team Vice President Vince Cerrato and Portis, to be at Taylor's side.

"This is the worst imagineable tragedy," Snyder said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Sean's family."

For the tight-knit family of current and former members of the Miami Hurricanes football team, it is another grievous loss. Several have died prematurely, of car crashes, a plane crash—and shootings.

On Facebook.com, friends launched the RIP Sean Taylor page to honor a safety so aggressive that some had knicknamed him "The Reaper" because of the pops he delivered on the field. As of 1 p.m. EST Tuesday, RIP Sean Taylor had 748 members.

At the home on Old Cutler, Alex Simkovitz, 22, was among a handful of people to drop by and leave flowers.

"He was a great player," Simkovitz said. "Aside from that he was also part of the community."

Others stopping by the Old Cutler house Tuesday morning included plainclothes officers, two men wearing NFL lanyards and a pair of 28-year-old twins who said they played football with Taylor at Suniland Park.

Miami-Dade patrol officers received the call that Taylor had been shot about 1:45 a.m. Monday.

Taylor and his girlfriend were startled awake by noises in his sprawling home in Palmetto Bay. Taylor grabbed a machete from underneath his bed and went to investigate.

He didn't get far. An armed intruder fired at least one shot. Taylor tumbled back into the bedroom, fatally wounded in the groin, Sharpstein said.

Sharpstein said the couple's baby daughter was also in the bedroom and slept through the shooting. The gunman fled immediately after firing.

"Nothing was stolen. They shot at him and fled," Sharpstein said.

He said Garcia called 911 on a cellphone.

Among the first responders was George Mira Jr., who lettered as a linebacker at the University Of Miami from 1984-87 and is now a fire battalion chief. Detective Juan Villalba, a Miami-Dade police spokesman, said police were interviewing relatives who were potential witnesses.

Only eight days before, according to police records, someone had broken into Taylor's house between 7 p.m. Nov. 17 and midnight Nov. 18. The intruder, who pried open a front window, entered several rooms and rifled through drawers and a safe in the bedroom.

In that incident, someone left a kitchen knife on a bed, the police report says.

"They're really sifting through that incident and today's incident," Miami-Dade Detective Mario Rachid said, "to see if there's any correlation."

Retirees Pat and Jim Smith, who live next door to Taylor, said they heard voices outside about 2:30 a.m. Monday. Outside, Jim Smith talked to a woman with a baby in her arms who he believes is Taylor's nanny. She mentioned the previous break-in.

"I am going to make sure my gun is loaded," Jim Smith said. "We never did have any problems here."

Taylor, a graduate of Gulliver Preparatory School in Pinecrest, was chosen by the Redskins as the fifth pick overall in the National Football League's 2004 draft.

He signed a seven-year, $18 million contract after his junior year at the University Of Miami, when his nine interceptions were the most in the Big East Conference and second in the nation.

At Miami, he was an All-American, a Jim Thorpe Award finalist for best defensive back in the nation and the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.

This season, he was sidelined indefinitely Nov. 11 when he sprained his right knee against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Redskins lost to the Buccaneers in Tampa on Sunday.

University officials weighed in, saying, "This is a terrible thing to have happened to a great person, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and teammates."

Taylor is no stranger to controversy.

Before he was drafted, he was rebuked by the NFL for leaving the league's mandatory rookie symposium early, and drew a $25,000 fine.

He was arrested in June 2005 on felony charges of waving a gun at people he believed had stolen his all-terrain vehicle. He later pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery. Sharpstein said Taylor was the victim and that he should not have been charged.

After the plea, Ryan Lee Hill, a member of the group that Taylor had allegedly accosted, sued Taylor. In the suit, which is pending, Hill claimed Taylor hit him repeatedly in a fight and brandished a gun at him, and said he had lost wages and had medical bills because of injuries.

"Totally garbage and untrue," Sharpstein said Monday of Hill's account.

After the fight, Taylor, friend Michael McFarlane and a man named Charles Caughman went to McFarlane's house in West Perrine, according to court records of the incident. Soon afterward, a silver car pulled up to McFarlane's house and someone opened fire, peppering Taylor's GMC Yukon Denali with bullets. Police found 27 bullet casings outside, and at least 15 shots hit Taylor's car. No one was hit, and the shooting remains unsolved.

McFarlane has since moved out of the small ranch home on Southwest 104th Avenue. The current renter on Monday showed a visitor bullet holes that remain over a front window.

Taylor's cousin, Florida State University safety Anthony Leon, said Taylor was trying to shed some troublemaking friends he had grown up with. Leon, who said he spent his morning crying and praying in his dorm room, said Taylor had "started to calm down."

"He's been trying to stay away from bad company—especially for his daughter's sake," Leon said. "Sean wasn't a bad guy at all. He's got his personality on the football field and off it. All he was trying to do was protect his family. And they shot him."