Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard appears in an official incident report of a shooting in the home of his former agent Damarius Bilbo in June 2020. Howard’s name is misspelled in the report, but it is clear that he is the person referred to (although his name appears with no explanation or context).
Pro Football Talk first received the report a few days ago from the Dunwoody (GA) authorities. In it we learn that on June 29th, someone fired a bullet into Bilbo’s house. Bilbo wasn’t home at the time, but his wife and 12 year old son were. The son told police that he saw a gold limo pull up in front of the house, that he saw a black man in a hooded sweatshirt get out of the vehicle and walk onto the lawn, and that the person jumped back into the vehicle after being shot through a window shot.
Fortunately, nobody was injured and the investigation is still ongoing. Howard’s name appears on the Additional Name List on the second page of the report, but as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald ReportsHoward is not suspected of having fired the gun. Jackson adds in full that Howard probably wasn’t in the vehicle either. However, the police have asked for interviews on several occasions, which Howard declined.
Howard declined the first interview request back in August, saying he was dealing with COVID-19. The last request was made in the last few weeks.
Howard’s attorney, Darren Heitner, said: “Xavien was not involved in this incident and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise.” At this point, this certainly seems to be true, as Howard’s only connection to the incident appears to be his previous business relationship with Bilbo and his connection to other people listed as “additional names”. Both the Pro Football Talk report and Jackson article provide more information if you want to dig deeper.
Bilbo represented Howard until the two had a business dispute in October, but it was Bilbo negotiating Howard’s five-year extension for $ 75.3 million in 2019, making Howard the league’s highest-paid cornerback. Howard has just had the best season of his career and was in the running for Defensive Player of the Year award. Therefore he is aiming for a renegotiation of his contract (although he is under club control until 2024). Jackson wonders if the Dolphins will use this incident as a reason to refuse such renegotiation, but recent reports have shown that Howard will seek a deal if he doesn’t get a raise.
As Jackson writes, it is unclear whether the NFL will investigate this matter. The Dolphins, Bilbo and Dunwoody police have initially refused to comment.
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