Minneapolis (WCO) – The Minnesota Vikings put Iverson Griffin in reserve Friday after an incident earlier this week as police and mental health professionals responded to his home.
The 33-year-old will not play in Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. However, it is unclear how long he will miss the team. Coach Mike Zimmer did not provide an update on Griffen’s immediate future other than to say that the top priority is Griffen’s health and his family’s resources.
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Early Wednesday morning, Griffen posted a disturbing video to his Instagram account. The video clip showed him holding a gun saying someone was trying to kill him at his home in Minnesota. He told officials that he fired one shot and that no one was hurt. The Instagram video has since been deleted.
Police responded to Griffin’s home, and so did mental health professionals. Griffin did not leave his home until the early afternoon, when an ambulance took him to a mental institution.
Investigators say they believe Griffin was alone on Wednesday morning, noting that they “could not locate an intruder.”
Griffin, who returned to the Vikings this season after a year in Dallas and Detroit, took time away from the team in 2018 after an incident at the Ivy Hotel in Minneapolis.
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In that incident, witnesses said Griffin was acting paranoid and threatening to assault staff. At the time, the Vikings’ director of security told police that Griffin “did not behave normally” and “it looked like he was having a nervous breakdown”.
When Griffin walked away from the team in 2018, he said in a statement that he is “focused on solving personal issues I’ve been dealing with for a long time.”
Upon his return, he said, “I’ve had a lot of time to think about my life and where I want to go and the decisions I’ve made. I just want to get better and improve on some of the decisions I made.”
mental health resources
The Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness has a list of resources for people with mental illness. Click here to access those resources. Also, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at any time at the number below.
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