Former NFL player Antonio Brown is facing an attempted murder charge stemming from a shooting that took place during an altercation outside an amateur boxing event in Miami, according to an arrest warrant.
Brown, 36, is accused of grabbing a handgun from a security staffer and firing two shots at a man he had gotten into a fistfight with earlier. The victim, Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, told investigators one of the bullets grazed his neck.
The former All-Pro wide receiver spent most of his 12-year career with Pittsburgh, but last played in 2022 with Tampa Bay. After helping the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl with quarterback Tom Brady in 2020-21, he was kicked off the team the next season in the wake of a sideline incident in New York.
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The warrant does not list an attorney for Brown, and he did not respond to messages sent to his social media accounts.
The second-degree attempted murder charge carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence and up to a $10,000 fine.
It is the latest in a series of legal problems for Brown, who has previously been accused of battery of a moving truck driver, several domestic violence charges, failure to pay child support and other incidents.
According to the arrest warrant, Brown attended a celebrity boxing event in Miami on May 16. Police were called to the location after other patrons reported hearing shots fired. Several of them told officers Brown was the shooter, but when he was detained in the parking lot no weapon was found, but two bullet casings were located.
Brown was released then because the victim was not found immediately, according to the warrant. Later, investigators learned Nantambu was the victim.
Based on surveillance video, the altercation outside the boxing event involving Brown, Nantambu and others was broken up by security staff, one of whom got into a struggle with Brown, the warrant says.
“Mr. Brown appears to retrieve a black firearm from the right hip area” of the security official, the warrant says. “Cellphone video obtained from social media showed Mr. Brown with the firearm in his hand advancing toward Mr. Nantambu on the outside sidewalk. The video captures two shots which occur as Mr. Brown is within several feed of Mr. Nantambu.”
Nantambu identified Brown as the shooter and told investigators he had known Brown since 2022.
His time in Tampa Bay will likely be remembered for the bizarre way it ended.
During a January 2022 game against the New York Jets, near the end of 2021 season, Brown took off his jersey, shoulder pads and gloves and ran off the field. Afterward, Coach Bruce Arians told the media, "He is no longer a Buc."
Brown said afterward he was forced to play with bone fragments in his ankle. Arians said Brown did not report the injury before refusing to go back into the game.
After that incident, Bucs quarterback Tom Brady said people should show some compassion for Brown, who lived at Brady's Davis Islands home during his time in Tampa Bay.
“It’s a difficult situation,” Brady said then. “Everybody should do what they can to help him in ways that he really needs it. We all love him. We care about him deeply. We want to see him be at his best. Unfortunately, it won’t be with our team."
During his playing career, Brown caught 928 passes for 12,291 yards and 88 touchdowns. In addition to Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, he played for Oakland and New England. Brown was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection.
