Colts' Marvin Harrison involvement in bar shooting under investigation

By Tom James
Tribune-Star Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS May 03, 2008 12:03 am

— Indianapolis Colts officials had few comments after hearing reports Friday that veteran wide receiver Marvin Harrison is under investigation for his involvement in a shooting that took place Tuesday in his hometown of Philadelphia. The shooting reportedly occurred outside a North Philadelphia bar owned by Harrison.
Coach Tony Dungy was asked about the reports near the end of a Friday afternoon press conference, which was scheduled to talk about the first day of the team’s rookie minicamp.
“My phone has been ringing too. I really don’t have any details. I don’t know what ‘involved’ means. I probably don’t have any more information that you do right now,” Dungy said.
Team president Bill Polian didn’t have much more to say about the incident.
“We have no credible information at this time, and we will not comment until we do,” Polian said in a prepared statement released Friday evening by the Colts.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league is aware of the report and was looking into it. Harrison’s agent, Tom Condon, has not commented on the situation.
WIP Radio in Philadelphia was told by a source that the alleged victim came into the bar, Playmakers Tavern, around 5 p.m. Tuesday and engaged in an argument with Harrison, who was at the bar.
The victim then left the bar, heading to his car, with Harrison following. Gunfire broke out, the victim was hit in the hand, and a young girl was slightly injured by flying glass from a car that apparently was hit by a bullet.
Police came to scene, but the victim did not identify a shooter. On Wednesday, according to the source, ballistic tests showed that the gun that had fired the shots was a custom-made Belgian weapon, and police determined that Harrison owned such a gun.
Law enforcement officials then went to a Philadelphia car wash owned by Harrison to question him about the gun. Harrison admitted owning such a weapon, but claimed it never left his suburban Philadelphia home.
The source said the gun was discovered in a bucket at the car wash, and tests showed that it had fired and matched seven bullets found at the scene. The source added that police were contacted Friday by an attorney representing a second alleged victim in the shooting, and police are now waiting for that individual to come forward.
A report by WCAU-TV said the shooting happened in North Philadelphia, where Harrison owns two bars. The confrontation may have stemmed from another incident at Harrison’s bar, 28th Street Lounge.
There was apparently some kind of a problem last weekend at the 28th Street Lounge, where a man was tossed out of the establishment. That man then reportedly showed up Tuesday at a detailing shop owned by the Harrison family.
During a Friday evening press conference, Lt. Frank Vanore of the Philadelphia Public Affairs Unit said that Harrison was cooperating fully with authorities.
“First of all, there was a shooting that occurred on April 29 around 5 p.m. That shooting occurred and the Philadelphia police are investigating it. As a result of that shooting, there were a couple people that received injuries. The injuries were not life-threatening. There’s a male with injuries to his hand. There’s another, a child, that received some glass shattering in his eye. He was treated and released at a local hospital. And at this time, and I want to repeat this, we have no suspects. And there are no charges in this shooting investigation,” Vanore said.
“We’re interviewing all the witnesses and everybody that we believe may have been in the area or possibly could have been in the area. And detectives are still in the process of doing that. It’s an open investigation. We have no charges and there are no suspects at this time.”
As to Harrison’s full role in the shooting, that’s still to be determined.
“I can tell you that he was interviewed, why he was interviewed. That’s all part of the investigation. No one is a suspect at this point. We’re interviewing anyone we think may have been in the area and there were interviews done. We’re looking to do more interviews,” Vanore added, saying that he couldn’t go into detail concerning who owned the gun in question.
“That’s part of the investigation and I don’t have any details like that. As part of the investigation, we did interviews. Mr. Harrison was interviewed as part of the investigation. That’s all we have at this point. I don’t have anything on the details of the investigation. He’s from that area and he was interviewed as part of this investigation. We’re interviewing a lot of people.”
The one bit of actual news that came out of the press conference concerned the actual location of the shooting.
“I believe, the information that I have, is that it happened involving a vehicle and it was on the highway. So I don’t think it happened inside anywhere. But I’m a little unclear on that,” Vanore said. “It happened outside on the highway. It involved a vehicle getting struck and some glass shattering and a child getting injured.
“That’s all I really have on the shooting incident. We’re doing interviews, as we do in all our shooting incidents. And if more information becomes available, we’ll release it to you. I don’t have any details on the evidence.”
Harrison was sued after the 2005 Pro Bowl when three boys accused him of attacking them when they tried to get his autograph. It was alleged that he attacked the boys. The suit, however, was later dismissed by Hawaiian authorities.

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