A former pro football player was arrested Wednesday after shooting a woman at a company he co-founded, later telling police the shooting “was an accident” and the Russian Mafia was after him.
The Denver Channel reported that Justin Bannan, 40, was found outside Black Lab Sports in Boulder, Colorado, shortly after the shooting and taken into custody. He was carrying a backpack with two loaded guns and extra magazines.
Bannan played defensive tackle in the NFL from 2002 to 2013, with stints at Buffalo, Baltimore, St Louis, Detroit, and Denver. He played college ball at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Police said the woman, who was not named, worked in the same building as Bannan and knew him but did not have a relationship with him. At the hospital, she told detectives that she unlocked a therapy room door when she arrived at work on Wednesday afternoon and was immediately shot in the right shoulder. Court docs said she saw Bannan sitting in the corner and asked him, “What the f—, you just shot me.” He replied “I’m sorry, the Russian Mafia is after me,” CBS Denver reported.
Her injuries were not life threatening.
When officers arrived on scene, they began a search and found Bannan at a table outside the building talking with another man. Police said he told them he had hydrocephalus — a condition in which excess fluid builds up in cavities in the brain — and that he ditched his cell phone because someone was tracking him using it.
Officers found in his possession a rolled up $20 bill that contained a powder substance which preliminarily tested positive for cocaine.
According to the court documents, he made “statements about the Russian Mafia being after him” during the interview and said that the woman he shot “did not deserve that, she was good person.”
Bannan was charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault with extreme indifference, first-degree assault with intent to cause serious bodily injury, and first-degree burglary. He appeared in court Thursday, and bond was set at $500,000.
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[Featured images: Justin Bannan/AP Photo/Jack Dempsey]
