The shooting of law professor Dan Markel, the founder of the PrawfsBlawg, who opened his door to be shot in the ultimate irony for a man whose death has created shock waves in the US legal academic community.
Police say Mr. Markel, 41, a criminal law professor at FSU College of Law and founder of PrawfsBlawg, a pioneering network of law professor bloggers, was gunned down at his Tallahassee home on Friday morning. He was found by police at 11 am and died in hospital.
The police department said its violent crimes unit is probing the incident as a homicide and that it’s set up a tip line dedicated to the case. But as of Monday morning, it had released little other information about the circumstances behind his death. Here’s the latest statement from police:
The initial investigation has provided no indication that this case is connected to a burglary or robbery and investigators are assuring residents there is no evidence this was a random act. Neighborhood residents should continue to be vigilant but it appears at this time that Mr. Markel was the intended victim in this incident.
As police investigate, Mr. Markel’s friends and colleagues have posted tributes to the professor.
FSU law school said in a statement that his “contributions to the law school and broader legal community were pervasive and lasting.”
The bloggers at Prawfsblawg posted a statement on the “senseless” loss of the site’s founder:
All of us here on Prawfsblawg live in different places and come from different backgrounds. What we have in common, with many others, is Dan. His network of friends and loved ones–and he had a great deal of love for all his many friends, as we did and do for him–is enormous. His boundless energy was at the center of this community; it made it run, it gave it life. We are stunned and bereaved by his loss, and our thoughts go to his two little boys, who were precious to him, and to his family.
