Lawyers clash over Angels' alleged role in Tyler Skaggs' overdose death

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A lawyer for the family of late pitcher Tyler Skaggs argued Monday that the Los Angeles Angels' failure to investigate reports of drug use and dealing by the team's communications director led to the overdose death of the 27-year-old player.

An Angels' attorney, however, said it was Skaggs who was pushing drug-addicted employee Eric Kay and his teammates to provide him with pills and that had club officials known about it they would have sought help for the left-handed pitcher.

The dueling claims came in closing arguments of a two-month civil trial in Southern California over whether the MLB team should be held responsible for Skaggs' fatal overdose after snorting a fentanyl-laced pill on a team trip to Texas in 2019.

Kay was convicted of providing the pill that led to Skaggs' death in a federal criminal case in Texas. The California trial is a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Skaggs' widow, Carli, and his parents, contending the Angels knew or should have known Kay was an addict and dealing to players.

Daniel Dutko, a lawyer for Skaggs' family, told jurors extensive testimony has shown team officials didn't take adequate action when they learned Kay had multiple plastic bags filled with pills at his home or was hospitalized for a drug overdose. Rather, Kay stayed on the job and had access to players he aimed to keep happy by getting them massage appointments, tee times and prescription medication, Dutko said, adding he was found to have provided drugs to seven on the team.

“This is a systematic breakdown over and over and over,” Dutko said. “Why do you think the players think it is OK to go to the director of communications to get a prescription medication? Because they believed Eric Kay’s job responsibility was to get them whatever they need.”

Todd Theodora, an attorney for the Angels, countered that the team wasn't aware that Skaggs had an addiction to painkillers that dated back years and didn't know Kay was distributing pills to Skaggs or anyone else. He said Skaggs got fellow players into taking pills and Kay to act as a so-called “gopher” to provide them with the drugs, but they kept it secret out of concern it could jeopardize their MLB careers.

“This is illegal activity that they concealed because they did not want the team to know about it,” Theodora told the court, adding Skaggs took the drugs of his own free will. “They didn't even tell their wives.”

The trial comes six years after Skaggs was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying in 2019 as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said the player choked to death on his vomit, and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.

Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. His trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.

In California, the trial has included testimony from dozens of witnesses including Angels outfielder Mike Trout, Angels president, John Carpino; and Skaggs' and Kay's relatives. Witnesses described Kay’s erratic behavior at the stadium and incidents that led to his time in rehab before he headed out on the trip to Texas with the team. They also described how players paid Kay for stunts in the clubhouse including taking a fastball to the leg and eating a pimple off Trout’s back.

Kay’s now-ex-wife, Camela Kay, said the Angels failed her then-husband, who worked lengthy hours, and that during his 2019 hospitalization for a drug overdose, she heard he had pills intended for Skaggs. Carpino testified that he wished he had known sooner about the drug use by both Skaggs and Kay.

Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After Skaggs’ death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.

Skaggs’ family is seeking lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering and punitive damages against the Angels. Experts for the family said he could have reeled in more than $100 million as a pitcher had he lived, while team-hired experts put the figure at no more than $32 million.

Attorney Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Attorney Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Judge H. Shaina Colover listens as Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Attorneys listen as Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

FILE - Attorney Todd Theodora gestures before opening statements in the trial for the wrongful death lawsuit accusing the Los Angeles Angels baseball team of being responsible for the 2019 drug overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Santa Ana, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, Pool, File)

FILE - Carli Skaggs, widow of pitcher Tyler Skaggs, center, speaks with attorney Rusty Hardin before opening statements in the trial for the wrongful death lawsuit accusing the Los Angeles Angels baseball team of being responsible for the 2019 drug overdose death Skaggs Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Santa Ana, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, Pool, file)

FILE - Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout gestures toward a photo of Tyler Skaggs in center field prior to a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Anaheim, Calif., on July 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

FILE - In this June 29, 2019, file photo, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs throws to an Oakland Athletics batter during a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Police released new video and a description of a potential suspect and renewed their search for the shooter who killed two Brown University students and wounded nine others, a day after they released a person of interest in the case.

Here's a look at what to know about the shootings and the search:

Authorities announced the detained man's release during a news conference late Sunday. That marked a setback in the investigation of Saturday's attack on the Ivy League school's campus and added to questions about the shooting and investigation.

Police had detained the man at a Rhode Island hotel. State Attorney General Peter Neronha acknowledged the seriousness of the situation, saying, “We have a murderer out there.”

On Monday, Providence police released three videos of the suspect in the attack that show him wearing a mask and a dark two-tone jacket. The footage from about two hours before the shooting provided the clearest images yet of the suspect.

The FBI said the man is about5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall, with a stocky build.

The shooting occurred as students were in the first-floor classroom of the engineering building studying for a final.

The gunman fired more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Two handguns were recovered when the person of interest was taken into custody and authorities also found two loaded 30-round magazines, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.

The students who died were MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, and Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. Umurzokov was an aspiring neurosurgeon and Cook was a student leader of Brown University’s campus Republicans. They were in a study group preparing for an economics final.

One of the nine wounded students has been released from the hospital, university President Christina Paxson said Sunday. Seven others were in critical but stable condition, and one was in critical condition.

Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically wounded and that her parents were with her.

Another wounded student, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald from a hospital bed that there was a mad scramble after the gunman entered the room where he and the other students were studying for finals. Many students ran toward the front of the room, but Yang said he wound up on the ground between some seats and was shot in the leg.

Law enforcement officials were still doing basic investigative work two days after the shooting, such as canvassing local residences and businesses for security camera footage and looking for physical evidence. That has left students and some Providence residents frustrated at gaps in the university’s security and camera systems that helped allow the shooter to disappear.

Kristy dosReis, a spokeswoman for the Providence Police Department, said that at no point did the investigation stand down even after officials appeared to have a breakthrough in the case when they detained a Wisconsin man who they now believe was not involved.

But a lack of campus footage left police seeking tips from the public.

Authorities asked neighborhood residents and businesses for surveillance video that might help identify the attacker. They said Sunday that one reason they lacked video of the shooter was because Brown's engineering building doesn't have many cameras.

Law enforcement on Monday traced the suspect’s movements in the minutes after the attack and searched for physical evidence near the crime scene.

Additional police were sent to Providence schools on Tuesday to reassure worried parents that their kids will be safe with the Brown University shooter on the loose and no indication yet that investigators have zeroed in on a specific suspect in the weekend attack.

Brown University junior Mia Tretta was 15 years old when she was shot in the abdomen during a mass shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California. Two students were killed, and she and two others were wounded.

On Saturday, Tretta was studying in her dorm with a friend when the first message arrived warning of an emergency at the university’s engineering building. As more alerts poured in urging people to remain locked down and stay away from windows, the familiarity of the language made clear what she had feared.

“No one should ever have to go through one shooting, let alone two,” Tretta told the AP by phone Sunday.

Levi Neuwirth, who said he was a Brown senior who used to have class in the room where the shooting happened, said the campus is on edge. But he said students and the rest of the Brown community have been supporting each other and displaying extra kindness in the wake of tragedy.

“Campus is on edge, mourning, grieving, processing, all of the above that folks would expect,” said Neuwirth, of Wallkill, New York. “But I would really highlight that the major sentiment I feel and I know many of my peers feel is a strong sense of community, of love. We have each other’s backs.”

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Contributing were Associated Press reporters Kimberlee Kruesi, Amanda Swinhart, Robert F. Bukaty and Jennifer McDermott in Providence; Michael Casey in Boston; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Kathy McCormack and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington.

A community member looks at flowers, notes and mementos in a makeshift memorial display sitting in front of Brown University's Van Wickle gates, in Providence, R.I., two days after a shooting took place on the university's campus, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Lily Speredelozzi/The Sun Chronicle via AP)

This combo image made with photos provided by the FBI and the Providence, Rhode Island, Police Department shows a person of interest in the shooting that occurred at Brown University in Providence, R.I., Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (FBI/Providence Police Department via AP)

Members of the FBI Evidence Response Team search for evidence near the campus of Brown University, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A police vehicle is parked at an intersection near crime scene tape at Brown University, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., following a Saturday shooting at the university. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Passers-by walk past crime scene tape at an entrance to Brown University, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., following the Saturday, Dec. 13, shooting at the university. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Police tape off hotel rooms where the person of interest was arrested in a shooting, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Coventry, R.I. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)

People hold candles during a vigil, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Providence, R.I., for those injured or killed during the Saturday shooting on Brown University campus. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A bouquet of flowers rests on snow, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, on the campus of Brown University not far from where a shooting took place, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)