Sean Taylor Tribute

Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died early Tuesday morning after being shot Monday at his home in Miami, the National Football League club confirmed Tuesday.

The 24-year-old National Football League defender died in a Miami hospital where he underwent nearly six hours of emergency surgery Monday to repair a severed femoral artery, the team confirmed in a website statement.

"He did not make it through the night," Taylor's attorney and long-time friend, Richard Sharpstein, told the Washington Post, calling the death "a ridiculous unnecessary tragedy."

Sharpstein also told CNN that at "people" entered Taylor's home and fired two shots, one hitting a wall and the other striking Taylor in the leg.

"This was a deliberate attack," Redskins vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato told the Post.

Miami police said Taylor was struck by the bullet in the femoral artery, causing a significant blood loss. He was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital after his fiancee made an emergency call reporting the shooting.

"He never regained consciousness," Sharpstein told CNN. "He was unconscious when the fire rescue people arrived.

"It's a senseless tragic death."

Neither Taylor's fiancee nor their 18-month-old daughter was harmed physically by the intruders.

Taylor and his fiancee had been in the bedroom when a disturbance was heard in the living room, Sharpstein said.

"(He) tried to get a small machete that he keeps under the bed to defend himself but the door was burst into," Sharpstein told CNN, adding that Taylor's fiancee hid under the covers until the assailants had fled.

Sharpstein said he had received a call from Taylor's father, Florida City police chief Pete Taylor.

"He was overwrought with grief and called me to tell me that Sean was with God," Sharpstein told CNN.

Taylor's family told the Redskins of his passing Tuesday morning, the team's brief website posting said.

"The family of Sean Taylor has notified the Redskins that Taylor passed away Tuesday morning at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. He was 24," the posting said.

"Taylor was injured Monday in a shooting at his residence in Miami and did not survive."

Taylor was the fifth pick of the 2004 NFL Draft and had a strong 2007 season with 42 tackles and a team-high five interceptions until a November 11 knee injury forced him to the sidelines the past two games.

Taylor made 306 tackles and 12 interceptions in parts of four seasons with the Redskins.

The shooting stunned Taylor's Redskins' teammates, who had been optimistic after reports Taylor had made facial expressions Monday night, his first signs of conscious behavoir following concerns of brain damage.

"For all of us here, we're obviously in shock," Redskins coach Joe Gibbs had said Monday. "I know I can't put it in words."

Redskins running back Clinton Portis, a college teammate of Taylor at the Universitry of Miami, lammented Monday that had Taylor not been injured, he would not have been with the team after their Sunday game in Tampa.

"How can you deal with it? It's hard," Portis said. "All we can think about is if he had been with us on the flight to Tampa, if he was at the game with us, then he would not have been in that situation."

Taylor had faced off-field legal issues several times, including a 2004 drunken driving arrest and the dropping of felony assault charges from a 2005 off-season incident involving firearms.

Taylor, who had been ejected from a playoff game for spitting on an opponent, pleaded no contest last year to two misdemeanor charges in connection with the 2005 incident and was in the final days of 18 months on probation.

He had originally faced three felony counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and two battery misdemeanors after a confrontation over an all-terrain vehicle. Police said gunshots had been fired into the vehicle.