NBA star witnesses robbery
Baltimore County native and NBA star Rudy Gay (at left in an AP photo) was in apparently in the city last night, Twittering to his 19,000-plus followers as he witnessed a robbery, The Sun's Justin Fenton reports
His message: “Just now witnessed a robbery! Only in Baltimore, I need to get out of here!”
Gay was raised and attended school outside the Beltway. He commuted from Essex to the Cecil-Kirk Recreation Center in Northeast Baltimore, and played high school ball for Archbishop Spaulding. He spurned the University of Maryland for UConn and left after a stellar freshman season. He was drafted eighth overall in the 2006 NBA draft and put up 20 points and 6 rebounds per game in his second season. He averaged 18.9 points per game last year for the Memphis Grizzlies.
He hasn’t forgotten his Baltimore roots, returning to the city several times for fellow native Carmelo Anthony’s three-on-three basketball tournament and family day.
We’re not immediately sure which robbery Gay witnessed, but the time stamp on the posts puts it at “about 16 hours ago,” which would be about 10 p.m. Monday. He even posted cell phone pictures of police cars and Foxtrot, the police department helicopter, as it swarmed overhead.
Lucky for Gay, the robber apparently didn’t target the NBA star, who made $2.5 million last year and is seeking a contract extension in the neighborhood of $68 million.
Comments
The Sun always has to take a shot at Gary Williams! This is a story about a high profile witness to a robbery yet the phrase "spurned the University of Maryland for UConn" just had to find its way into the blog post. How is that at all relevant, Hermann? If someone wrote about you witnessing a crime they would simply say "Sun writer Peter Hermann" not "Sun writer Peter Hermann, whose web photo looks like a pumpkin and a star wars nerd had a baby and then gave it a wrinkled pair of slacks." Enough with the Gary recruiting bashing, especially from the freakin city crime guy!
Posted by: Juan D | August 4, 2009 2:37 PM
Thank goodness he was safe. Hadn't known much about Baltimore until I started watching The Wire. After that and a few trips through the city I quickly learned :)
Posted by: Ryan Biddulph | August 4, 2009 6:21 PM
Rudy Gay witness a robbery and what did he do. He went to twitter to say he's getting out of Baltimore. He got his basketball training right here in Baltimore at Cecil Rec. Center. Instead of saying he's getting out of Baltimore. He should be asking what can I do to help. I don't know of anything he has done to help with all of his millions of dollars for any Youth Programs that he was a part of.
Posted by: Bernard Young | August 5, 2009 9:36 AM
Did the county native give a statement to the police, as he admits he is a witness, or did he simply bash the city and then "get out of here." And "Only in Baltimore"? Really? There aren't any robberies in Essex or Storrs or Memphis?
Posted by: Jeff | August 5, 2009 11:21 AM
Rudy's right.
Anybody who can afford to should get the hell out of Baltimore. I know I will as soon as I can afford it.
Baltimore-Bodymore
Believe-Be leaving
Posted by: jay | August 5, 2009 3:21 PM