The 2025 Florida State football season has gotten off to a great start on the field with wins against Alabama and East Texas A&M, but off the field, the season started with tragedy. Freshman linebacker Ethan Pritchard was shot on Aug. 31 while inside a vehicle outside the apartments in Havana, Florida, visiting family. He is still recovering in the hospital, but is in stable condition.
Four people have been arrested in connection with the shooting of Florida State linebacker Ethan Pritchard, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass said Wednesday. Glass mentioned that Pritchard was “not doing anything wrong” when he was ambushed outside an apartment last month. He also noted that Pritchard was dropping off his aunt and a child when he was shot in the back of the head.
Jayden Bodison, Caron Miller, Germany Atkins, and an unnamed minor have been arrested in connection with the shooting, according to the FDLE. Bodison, Miller, and the juvenile were charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle. Atkins was charged with one count of probation violation.
“I recruited him for years, got a chance to watch him grow,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said Saturday. “The way he plays the game is a passion and energy. He loves it, absolutely loves it.
“To know that right now that’s taken away from him in a senseless act … you don’t always know why you have to go through things in life. You don’t understand the reasoning. But I believe God has his hand over Ethan, this football team, and all the relationships.”
Pritchard's condition is stable, and he is still recovering in the hospital. There is not much else known about the reasoning for the attack, but Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young said they think it was a case of mistaken identity and that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Florida State played East Texas A&M this past Saturday and won 77-3 in a giant blowout win. Pritchard was not at the game, but his family was. The players all wore No. 35 wristbands to honor Pritchard in that game, too, and head coach Mike Norvell presented Pritchard’s father with the game ball after the win.
