Ex-NFL receiver Caldwell killed in Tampa shooting

TAMPA, Fla. — Former NFL receiver Reche Caldwell, who starred at Jefferson High and the University of Florida, was shot and killed late Saturday evening in Tampa, his mother said Sunday. Caldwell was 41.

Tampa police said officers responded to a call about a shooting just before 11 p.m. They found a man in his 40s with a gunshot wound in the yard of a home on the 3600 block of East Hanna Avenue. Officers rendered aid before a fire-rescue crew took the man to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. They said the incident “does not appear to be a random act.”

Police did not identify the victim publicly, but Caldwell’s mother, Deborah, said she was stunned when police broke the news to her around 11:30. She said her son had been heading to a concert at Whiskey North in Carrollwood and that police told her they believe he was ambushed in a possible robbery attempt.

“He was set up,” Deborah Caldwell said. “I’m going to follow it all the way to the end. ... You get killed right here in your hometown? You made a statement here, and y’all just took it away from us?”

Caldwell starred in baseball and football at Jefferson High School, which is why the Tampa Tribune named him the area’s No. 67 athlete of the century in the fall of 1999. At the time, Dragons baseball coach Pop Cuesta said Caldwell was as good as any player who went through his program — a list that includes major-league stars like Tino Martinez and Fred McGriff. Caldwell set Jefferson career records in batting average (.379), doubles (25), triples (six), steals (67) and runs (76).