TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The family of a former Plant High School football player is grieving his death.
Eric Patterson, who also played professional football, was gunned down in his Tampa home early Saturday morning. Now his family wants the person who did it caught.
He was an all-star ball player at Plant High School then at Ball State. Eric Patterson, jr. moved on to play for several teams in the NFL.
Former teammates, coaches, and family are looking for answers to his sudden death.
“It was senseless man,” his father, Eric Patterson, Sr., said. “It was just senseless for somebody to do something like that.”
His family says Tampa Police are investigating his death.
“That’s my son. I want to know who did it,” Patterson Sr. said.
His family wants answers as they cope with the news.
“He was my childhood best friend,” said Ashley Clark, his sister. “Everything we shared together. Everything. When they killed him they killed all of us inside.”
The 26-year-old leaves behind 6-year-old and 7-month-old daughters. The family now wants justice.
“Somebody knows something,” said Lana Bembow, his sister. “It’s somebody that’s close to him. How it happened, it’s somebody that he knew. It’s not a stranger. It’s definitely not a stranger.”
“So just be a man. You were a man to shoot him. Step up whoever it was,” Patterson Sr. pleaded.
Condolences for Eric Patterson are showing up on social media. NFL players like Todd Gurley, legendary coach Tony Dungy and Plant High Coach Robert Weiner are just a few of the people remembering him.
