Former UConn men’s basketball player Eric Cobb was arrested and charged in the shooting death of his mother.
The Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff’s Office announced Cobb’s arrest on Monday. Cobb, 28, is charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Police found 51-year-old Erika Winford deceased in the backyard of her Durkeeville home on Monday. Her body was wrapped in blankets and towels, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
An autopsy determined Winford had been shot in the head.
Police arrested Cobb as he tried to leave the home he shared with his mother. He is booked into the Duval County Jail.
Police found multiple bullet holes in the home’s main hallway. The hallway appeared to have been cleaned.
Officers found an AR-style rifle and a Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic handgun in the house. Additionally, spent shell casings were found in a trash can on the curb outside the home.
On Monday, a neighbor told investigators they heard a woman yell, “He’s going to kill me,” and a second neighbor said they heard several gun shots, the New York Post reports.
Winford told friends her son was “schizophrenic” but he couldn’t afford his psych meds. She said she was afraid of him.
Cobb played for the University of Connecticut and University of South Carolina men’s basketball teams. He was dismissed from the South Carolina team after police arrested him in March 2016 for shooting at an occupied vehicle with a BB gun. No one was hurt.
Cobb was also dismissed from the University of Connecticut team in 2018 due to “conduct deemed detrimental to the team,” WTNH reports, However, the team reinstated him a month later.
Cobb entered the NBA draft in 2019 but he went undrafted, making him an unrestricted free agent.
He played professional basketball in Croatia before returning to the U.S. during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
