Cowboys' Davis recovering from gunshots 03:15 PM CDT on Sunday, July 16, 2006 By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News MICHAEL AINSWORTH/DMN Keith Davis Dallas Cowboys safety Keith Davis, 27, was recovering at Baylor Medical Center Dallas on Sunday after he was shot twice while driving along Interstate 635 early Sunday morning. The incident, which is still under investigation, marks the second time in three years that Mr. Davis has suffered gunshot wounds. Last time, he was cut from the team. Police said Mr. Davis was driving westbound on the highway near the North Dallas Tollway about 5 a.m. Sunday when a dark-colored vehicle with tinted windows pulled alongside his Chevrolet Impala and someone in that vehicle shot at him and his passenger several times. Mr. Davis was struck in the back of the head and his right thigh but was able to pull his car over to the side of the road. His passenger, whose name was not released Sunday, then drove him to RHD Memorial Medical Center in Farmers Branch. Mr. Davis was transferred later Sunday to Baylor to undergo surgery. Police said he was in stable condition and his injuries are not considered life-threatening. Police said Mr. Davis was able to answer questions as they investigated the assault. ?We are trying to develop why this happened,? said Dallas police spokesman Lt. Rick Watson. Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple said Sunday that the team is aware of the incident, but declined to comment further. Lt. Watson said while police are still working on a motive and suspects, they believe one possibility is that the incident was an attempted carjacking because Mr. Davis? car was in excellent condition and had been modified. ?Through the investigation, the victim has not indicated he has any enemies or has been in any altercations at this time,? Lt. Watson said. Also Online Previous story: Gunshots derailed safety's career, but he never gave up Keith Davis bio He said it was unclear to where Mr. Davis was driving. Lt. Watson said police are also looking into the incident three years ago involving the Cowboy. In June 2003, Mr. Davis was shot in the elbow and right hip outside a Dallas strip club. He said he was there to pick up a friend at about 2:15 a.m. June 29 and was nearly run over by a car as an argument began. Soon thereafter, shots rang out. He later said that his girlfriend became involved in a dispute and he tried to protect her. He was cut from the Cowboys on the first day of training camp the next month. The 2003 shooting came not long after a stern warning from then-new coach Bill Parcells to the team about avoiding off-field troubles. He was reallocated to the NFL Europe by the Cowboys and was assigned to the Berlin Thunder for the 2004 campaign. He was named All-NFL Europe. Mr. Davis re-signed with the Cowboys in January 2004 and was the team?s best special-teamer. During the 2004 training camp, Coach Parcells called Mr. Davis to the front of the team meeting room and had him show his teammates his scars as a warning not to get into trouble on their first night off of training camp. In April, the Cowboys matched a two-year, $2.95 million offer New Orleans made to Mr. Davis as a restricted free agent. It included a $1.2 million roster bonus. Mr. Davis, who grew up in Italy, Texas, started 15 games at free safety last year, his first as a starter. He finished fourth on the team with 68 tackles and led the team with 16 special teams? tackles. He first signed with the Cowboys in 2002 as an undrafted free agent and played in eight games after a football career at Sam Houston State University. Lt. Watson said police were still trying to determine if Mr. Davis was targeted on Sunday or was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. ?We don?t know at this time exactly what the motive exactly is,? Lt. Watson said. Holy crap, that's right near where I work. It sounds like he'll recover, thank goodness. I'll be paying close attention to this story as the plot thickens....
