Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Former FSU football player argued with girlfriend and four men before deadly shooting, authorities say
On the day former FSU football star Travis Rudolph was accused of shooting a man dead, he had gotten into an altercation with his girlfriend, then fought with a group of men and shot at them while they were trying to leave in a car, according to a sheriff ’s arrest report released Thursday.
Rudolph was arrested Wednesday and faces one count of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder. He made his first appearance before a judge Thursday morning and was denied bond.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office said Rudolph’s girlfriend called a male friend after the altercation early Wednesday, leading the friend and three other people to drive to Rudolph’s home and confront him in Lake Park.
The male friend told deputies that none of the four men were armed when they arrived at Rudolph’s house. The four men exited the vehicle and knocked on Rudolph’s door, asking to speak with him.
According to the arrest report, Rudolph exited the home and was “immediately combative and confrontational.” Fighting broke out for several minutes before the four men got back into their car to leave,
the arrest report said.
At that time, Rudolph went back into his home, grabbed a firearm and opened fire on the car. A witness said he saw Rudolph holding a “rifle” at the time of the shooting.
The driver said he quickly sped off after Rudolph began firing. After one passenger said he was “hit,” the driver sped over to St. Mary’s Medical Center, according to the report.
Rudolph’s girlfriend, who told detectives she was in a “physical altercation” with Rudolph earlier in the evening, said she wasn’t present during the shooting, the report said.
After arriving on the scene, deputies noted “multiple video surveillance cameras” attached to the residence, as well as a monitoring system inside the home. The report doesn’t say whether deputies recovered any footage or if the shooting was caught on video.
Deputies tried to speak with Rudolph, but he immediately invoked his right to a lawyer. An unnamed woman in the home “spontaneously uttered that the situation was ‘self-defense.’”
A star wide receiver at Cardinal Newman in West Palm Beach, Rudolph was one of the top high school prospects to come out of Palm Beach County in the past 10 years. A five-star recruit, he earned various accolades, including Sun Sentinel Player of the Year in 2013.
He continued to impress in Tallahassee. During his time at Florida State, he was one of the team’s top offensive players, recording 153 catches for 2,311 yards and 18 touchdowns in three seasons from 2014-16.
Rudolph was unable to replicate that success at the next level, though. After not being selected in the 2017 NFL Draft, he signed with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent but spent most of his two years with the team on the practice squad. He appeared in seven games, totaling eight catches for 101 yards.
He signed with the Miami Dolphins in 2018 as part of their practice squad, but he tore his ACL in his first practice, ending his season.
Rudolph was most recently with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, but the team released him Wednesday after his arrest.