We have a developing story on Vikings DE Everson Griffen. Early Wednesday morning, as Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune writes, Griffen posted to Instagram screenshots of text messages he sent to his agent, Brian Murphy. Those messages asked Murphy to call 911 because “people are trying to kill me.”
Around 3:00 a.m, Griffen called police himself and requested assistance. He told the dispatcher that he had fired a round and that someone was with him, but police later said that no intruder was found and no one was injured.
Per the news release from the Minnetrista PD, which Lou Raguse of KARE 11 tweeted out, the police and Vikings staff members have been in contact with Griffen, but Griffen has refused to come out of his home. However, officers are confident that Griffen is alone in the house.
The team issued the following statement:
“Vikings representatives and the team’s mental health professionals have been on-site at Everson Griffen’s home since early this morning and are cooperating with law enforcement. Our only concern at this time is the safety and well-being of Everson and his family. We will have further comment at the appropriate time.”
Head coach Mike Zimmer did not offer any insight on the matter, saying, “the only thing I can comment on is for health and well being for [Griffen’s] family” (Twitter link via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). When asked whether Griffen was safe, Zimmer replied that he did not know. GM Rick Spielman will offer further updates at some point today (Twitter link via Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com).
Cronin was among those to tweet about Griffen’s social media posts before full-length pieces were published and the police report was released.
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