VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Michael Vick was not involved or present when a shooting took place outside a nightclub where he had celebrated his birthday, his lawyer said Friday.
Larry Woodward, one of the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback’s attorneys in his federal dogfighting case, said Vick wasn’t at the club when the shooting took place just after 2 a.m. Friday outside the club Guadalajara at Town Center shopping center.
At a football camp he is holding at Hampton University, Vick was asked by a reporter Friday afternoon whether he had any comment on the incident.
“Watch what you do. Pick and choose your friends carefully. You just can’t put yourself in vulnerable situations,” Vick said.
The shooting victim was taken to a hospital, but his injuries were not life-threatening, Virginia Beach Police spokesman Adam Bernstein said. However, several news outlets identified him as Quanis Phillips, one of the co-defendants in the federal dogfighting case that landed Vick an 18-month federal prison sentence.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league is looking into the shooting.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated Vick after being suspended for two years last July, and said at the time that Vick’s margin for error would be “extremely limited.”
A statement from the Eagles said the team was still gathering facts about the incident and would not comment further.
Vick played sparingly last season, but is expected to take on a larger role this year after the team traded starter Donovan McNabb in the offseason. The team picked up an option and is to pay Vick $5.2 million this year.
Vick also is still on three years’ probation in the federal case and on a three-year suspended sentence for a state dogfighting conviction. He is not allowed to associate with anyone convicted of a felony unless granted permission to do so by his probation officer.
It is unclear whether Phillips was invited to the party, which was hyped on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as “Michael Vick’s ALL WHITE 30th Birthday Bash.”
Bills haven’t picked QB
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — New Buffalo Bills coach Chan Gailey has no plans on announcing his No. 1 quarterback anytime soon — at least not until training camp starts next month. Gailey said last week that there would be a quarterback “pecking order” for the start of camp, but didn’t reveal at the close of the Bills’ three-day minicamp on Friday where Buffalo’s three signal callers — Trent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Brian Brohm — stand.
Jones injured in wreck
NEW ORLEANS — Chad Jones, a two-sport star at LSU who was drafted by the New York Giants, underwent surgery for a broken left leg and ankle Friday following a dawn wreck in which his SUV smashed into a pole. Jones was admitted to the LSU Public Hospital in New Orleans in guarded condition. His agent, Rocky Arceneaux, disclosed the injuries to The Associated Press but could not be more specific about their severity until operation was over and he heard from the doctors. Arceneaux said the 21-year-old player was alert when taken to the hospital. It was not clear what caused Jones to lose control of his vehicle at about 6 a.m. on a six-lane thoroughfare with a streetcar line on the west side of the city, police spokeswoman Shereese Harper said.
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