HAVANA, Fla. (WTXL) — An FSU football player is in the hospital after he was shot in the head. His family says he was driving his aunt home from a family gathering in Havana on Sunday night.
- Ethan Pritchard, a linebacker for Florida State, was shot near the Havana Heights Apartments.
- His father says doctors are monitoring swelling in his brain while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates this case.
- Watch the video to hear from the victim's father, and a neighbor who witnessed the shooting.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Tonight we are hearing from the father of the FSU football player who was shot Sunday evening in Havana.
"We just ask the community and everybody for their prayers," says Earl Pritchard.
He says his son is still heavily sedated. Speaking to our ABC affiliate in Orlando, Pritchard says his son Ethan was driving his aunt home from a family gathering in Havana Sunday evening.
When his son turned the corner near Havana Heights apartments, things took a dangerous turn.
"He was actually in the car taking my sister around the corner to her daughter's house to drop her off. They turned the corner, and as soon as they turned the corner, they heard gunshots," Earl Pritcard said.
One of those gunshots would hit Ethan in the back of the head while driving, according to his father.
Pritchard says doctors are monitoring the swelling in his head while making sure nothing has changed for the worse.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is leading the investigation. Monday, along with the Gadsden County Sheriff's Department, they were at the Havana Heights apartments, still processing the crime scene and door knocking.
"She said, William, William get on the floor, get on the floor. So I got on the floor. That's when I heard the shots," says William Chuckes who lives nearby.
He says he heard the gunshots. He said when he went outside to see what was going on, he saw a car riddled with bullet holes, slammed into his shed.
"The young man was still in the car. and they were kind of dealing with him trying to check his vital signs and all of that kind of stuff. I wasn't worried about the shed back then. I'm worried about the young man in the car."
Ethan, a linebacker for FSU from Sanford, Florida, was a three-star recruit for the Seminoles. FSU head coach, Mike Norvell, offered his support for the Pritchard family Monday.
"I got a chance to be there, you know, last night with him and his dad and family. [I'm] grateful for all the support and medical support that he was able to receive. The football team, coaches, family, we're all here to support them. [We're] absolutely believing and praying for all parts of him and the journey that's ahead," Norvell said in a press conference Monday.
This shooting has left the community searching for answers, and a young athlete facing a long road ahead. Investigators are still working to determine who is responsible.
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