Texans WR Tank Dell was nearly fully recovered from a leg injury when he sustained another freak leg injury in May 2024—this time from a bullet wound in a bar shooting in Florida. In Dell’s own words, it was a “wrong place at the wrong time” incident, and the injury was not severe. However, his mental health took a hit.
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Back-to-back injuries took a toll on his health, and he admitted during his Pivot Podcast interview with Ryan Clark that he “had a lot of weight on my shoulders.”
Dell recapped the night of the shooting and how it broke him down before revealing how he bounced back from the setback:
“Went out that night, and that happened. After that, I’m like, bro, I just felt like stuff kept happening back to back to back. I’m like, I couldn’t shake it. So, mentally, I was kind of messed up. But then I just felt like I was the only person that was going to pull myself out of it.”
Dell was a full participant in all Texans OTAs just three weeks after the gunshot wound, returning at full speed. However, it was a harrowing ordeal, that left Dell and many others mentally and physically scarred.
The details of the Sanford shooting
On the day of the shooting, Dell was a bystander at a private event in Sanford when a teenage gunman wounded 10 people after an altercation. Luckily, Dell suffered only a “minor wound,” according to a Texans spokesperson. Fortunately, none of the victims sustained life-threatening injuries.
The shooting reportedly began after a fistfight, and a bystander, not involved in the melee, drew a handgun and began firing. A security guard wrestled the shooter to the ground and disarmed him. Later on, a 16-year-old suspect was arrested and taken to a juvenile detention center.
But now Dell, after an impressive rookie season, is focused on leaving that night behind as he teams up with CJ Stroud to take on the Colts in Week 1.
