Flowery Branch, GA - The Atlanta Falcons have waived
linebacker Prince Shembo in light of the charges filed against him by
authorities in Gwinnett County, GA, this afternoon.
"We are aware of the charges that have been filed
against Prince Shembo. We are extremely disappointed that one of our players is
involved in something like this. Accordingly, we have decided to waive Prince
Shembo," the team said in a statement released late Friday afternoon.
Gwinnett County Police said they received a call on Sunday,
April 19 from 20-year-old Denicia Williams, who said her ex-boyfriend, the
23-year-old Shembo, had killed her dog. The initial police report said Williams
and the dog, named Dior, went to Shembo's Buford apartment home on April 15. At
some point during their stay, she says she left Shembo and the dog unattended.
When she later found the dog, he was unresponsive. Shortly after taking the dog
to Duluth Animal Hospital for treatment, the report said, the dog died.
A day later, according to the report, Williams and Shembo
were talking about the incident on the phone discussing the incident. During
the call, she says, Shembo made comments to her about kicking the dog. At that
point, she says, she ended the relationship.
The body of the dog was taken to the Gwinnett County Animal
Shelter for a necropsy, which occurred on April 21. Following the necropsy,
tissue samples were sent to the University of Georgia for further testing.
"Based on the necropsy and tissue samples there was a lot of extensive
injuries on the inside of the dog," Cpl. Michele Pihera said.
The lead investigator conducted telephone interviews with
Shembo while awaiting the test results. Those results were completed Thursday,
May 28. The dog had significant internal injuries, and the cause of death was
ruled as "blunt force trauma." Because of the inconsistencies of
Shembo's account of what happened and the results of the necropsy, a warrant
was obtained for Shembo on Friday, May 29.
Shembo was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals in
connection with Dior's death.
Details of the warrant say the dog had a fractured rib,
fractured liver, abdominal hemorrhage, thoracic hemorrhage, extensive
bruising/hemorrhage in muscles in front leg and shoulders, head trauma,
hemorrhage and edema in lungs, hemorrhage between the esophagus and trachea and
hemorrhage in the left eye with internal injuries.
On Friday, the lead investigator contacted the Falcons to
inform them of the warrant, leading to their action later in the day.
Denicia Williams and Dior went everywhere together,
according to her father. She even took the dog to work on modeling jobs. Her
father said as soon as she learned Shembo was charged with killing her dog, she
broke up with him.
"I got attached to him (Dior)," Gary Williams
said. "And to be honest with you, I cried when he passed."
Williams said he never liked his daughter's boyfriend
because he seemed jealous of her dog. Williams said Shembo felt second to her
dog. "He showed this jealousy of a little five-pound puppy," he said.
"A 260-pound man. What kind of man would be jealous of a puppy?"
Shembo turned himself in to the Gwinnett County Jail Friday
night with his mother and attorney by his side. Attorney Jerry Froelich said
what happened to the dog was an accident. "He was putting the dog in a
cage and the dog bit him on his hand," Froelich said. "He reflexed
and kicked the dog."
Froelich said Shembo agreed to pay a $15,000 bond and he
was released from jail Friday night. He said he wasn't surprised the Falcon cut
his client given their history with Michael Vick and his dog-fighting scandal.
At the NFL Scouting Combine in February 2014, Shembo said he
was the Notre Dame football player at the center of an investigation into
sexual assault allegations made by a former student at Saint Mary's College,
Lizzy Seeberg.
In September 2010, Seeberg said that a Notre Dame football
player had attacked her in a dorm room. Nineteen-year-old Seeberg committed
suicide 10 days later. The name of the player who allegedly had been the
attacker had never been made public until Shembo came forward both to NFL team
executives and to the media at the 2014 Combine.
"I have nothing to hide," Shembo said at the
time. "I'm still here, so I know I didn't do anything. I tell them exactly
what happened."
Gwinnett County is about 15 miles northeast of downtown
Atlanta.
FOLLOW US! 
