A Redlands East Valley High graduate who signed a contract with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers was hospitalized in Loma Linda early Thursday morning with gunshot wounds and has since been detained, according to his mother.
Since being released from Loma Linda University Medical Center around 6 p.m. Friday, Dominique Robertson was taken into custody by Riverside County sheriff’s deputies from the Jurupa Valley Station, said his mother, Tijuana Ross, 43, of Riverside.
Sheriff’s Department spokesman Armando Muñoz said a person had been detained for questioning but would not release a name, citing the ongoing investigation. Muñoz gave no further details.
Deputies responded at 3:28 a.m. Thursday to the emergency room at Loma Linda University Medical Center, where Robertson, 21, was being treated, according to a San Bernardino County sheriff’s news release. The extent of his wounds were unclear Friday.
Robertson told deputies he was shot while outside an apartment building in the 25000 block of Park Avenue, according to the release. Deputies found no evidence or crime scene at that location. Neighboring residents told them they had not heard gunshots.
Ross said her son – previously a resident of Florida – has been staying at different places in the Inland Empire in recent weeks. She said he told her that he had been visiting friends in Loma Linda when he was shot.
Attorney Zulu Ali, who says he represents Robertson, said his client was taken in for questioning without legal representation and that he feels his client’s Sixth Amendment rights are being violated.
Neither Ross nor Ali said they know why deputies have detained Robertson or whether there’s a connection to the shooting.
“We just basically know that he was obviously a victim of a shooting and they came and they took him directly out of the hospital,” Ali said.
Robertson played football at Redlands East Valley and graduated in 2012. He played at Riverside City College and Texas Tech before finishing his college career at Division II West Georgia. Although he wasn’t selected in the NFL Draft, he signed a free-agent contract with the Buccaneers in May and is listed as a guard on the team’s official website.