The Atlanta Falcons have released second-year linebacker Prince Shembo after he was charged with killing his girlfriend’s Yorkie.
According to a police report, Shembo’s girlfriend, Denicia Williams, left her dog, Dior, with Shembo for some time on April 15 and found him unresponsive upon her return.
Dior was alive when Williams returned to Shembo’s apartment, but was incapable of moving or reacting, even when she poured a bottle of water on him.
The dog — which Williams was told “had suffered a brain aneurysm” — died at a nearby animal hospital.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, veterinarians ruled the cause of death as blunt force trauma:
“The dog had a fractured rib, fractured liver, abdominal hemorrhage, thoracic hemorrhage, extensive bruising and hemorrhage in the muscles in her 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,” according to police.