In trouble again, ex-Jacksonville Jaguar Telvin Smith arrested on the 4th of July
Smith, 34, remained in jail July 7 in lieu of $75,000 bail on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, jail records show.
His Jacksonville Sheriff's Office arrest report contains several redactions to portions involving a gun, but the landscaper confirmed in a brief phone interview that he fired two shots.
'He threatened me to leave, and then I turned around and he fired as I was leaving,' Dillon Roach, 27, said.
The report states that officers were called to Smith's Queen's Harbour gated community about 4:45 p.m. on July 3 where the landscaper had been cutting his neighbor's grass. Roach said he asked his customer about the home owner next door about approaching him since his yard appeared to be overgrown with palm fronds and in need of servicing. He advised, 'I wouldn't do that if I were you.'
Roach told the Times-Union the gate was open so he walked up. As he continued about 40 yards, the suspect, later identified as Smith, got out of his Mercedes-Benz GL 350 SUV in the driveway and told him to get off his property and did something that was redacted in the arrest report.
He told police he immediately turned around and started to walk back to his truck with his hands raised in the air.
'The suspect then stated, 'You have three seconds to start running,'' the report said. 'The victim continued walking away from the residence, when he heard the suspect begin to countdown, 'Three, Two, One.''
The neighbor's wife said she heard a loud bang and went out to look for her husband. He told her about their landscaper wanting to ask Smith about cutting his lawn. He said he saw him running toward his truck and heard him say something that was redacted from the report.
Roach told police he finished his work at other homes before the holiday weekend and then decided to report what happened. He said he also checked property records to determine the home owner and also searched social media.
Additional officers arrived and Smith complied with orders to come out, the report said. One firearm was located inside a holster under his shirt. Another handgun was in plain view of the Mercedes as was one live round of ammunition in the doorway of the home and an additional spent shell casing on the ground in front of the garage door.
When asked if Roach thought Smith might have felt threatened by him coming onto his property, he told the Times-Union it was clear he was just a yard worker.
'I got a landscaping shirt on, I got boots on. Obviously he knew I was a landscaper because he'd seen the mowers on the back of my trailer,' he said.
In addition to the neighbors, he said another witness was a crew member in his truck.
He also said he didn't know he was a former Jaguars player.
'I don't follow football anymore, I used to but I haven't in a couple of years.'
He said the whole thing was 'very unfortunate that's for sure.'
The Jaguars star linebacker pleaded no contest to a single charge of child abuse in 2021 following his April 29, 2020, arrest on suspicion of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, court records show. According to a warrant in the case, Smith had sex on multiple occasions with an underage girl.
The plea was in exchange for three years of probation and adjudication withheld, which means he was not formally convicted of a criminal offense. Smith had to undergo psychosexual counseling and have no with the victim or her family or any female younger than 18 who wasn't related, according to terms of the agreement.
Jaguars arrest: Gene Frenette: Downfall of Telvin Smith is sad, disturbing story
Before the legal troubles, Smith had abruptly announced he was stepping away from football in 2019 to focus on his health and family. The Valdosta, Georgia., native was a key player on the Florida State Seminoles' 2013 national championship team.
As of late July 7, Smith's latest court filing wasn't available in the Duval County clerk of court's website to determine who his attorney is to contact for comment.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Ex-Jacksonville Jaguar Telvin Smith arrested again on the 4th of July
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