Four days before Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg, another Giants receiver was robbed at gunpoint, cops confirmed yesterday, leading a former teammate to suggest that may be why Burress was packing heat.
Police in Clifton, NJ, said receiver Steve Smith had returned to his townhouse in a gated community at about 4 a.m. Nov. 25 in a chauffeur-driven car.
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There, a person approached Smith from behind with a gun.
“The perpetrator said, ‘Give me everything you got,’ and Mr. Smith did turn over his jewelry and cash,” said Detective Capt. Robert Rowan.
The robber then ran off.
“The incident is still under investigation,” Rowan said.
Former Giants running back Tiki Barber, who now works for NBC Sports, said during Sunday night’s NFL game broadcast that Burress knew Smith had been robbed and that could be why Burress brought a .40-caliber Glock pistol to a nightclub on Friday.
“Last week, Steve Smith, one of Plaxico’s fellow receivers, was attacked at gunpoint and robbed at gunpoint in front of his house, so his mindset is ‘I have to protect myself, I’m a target,’ ” Barber said.
Burress was carrying the gun because he wanted to protect his jewelry and the large amount of cash he was carrying, police sources said.
Smith played in Sunday’s 23-7 victory over the Redskins.
Before that game, the Redskins honored their former safety Sean Taylor, who was fatally shot Nov. 27, 2007, during a burglary at his Miami-area home.
In his book, “Giant,” Burress writes about going to Taylor’s funeral.
“We were all stunned. Just really shook up,” Burress wrote. “Something like that can happen so fast and you could be gone.
“We’re football players and people look at us with jealousy. Usually the enemy is someone who doesn’t like you just because they see you out or you drive a nice car or you got on jewelry or whatever it may be. Some people don’t like you just because your financial status is better than theirs.”
Burress also said Taylor’s death opened “my eyes even more to my situation, that I just got to take care of myself the best I know how. I can’t relax for a minute.”
He said he had “several guns, and I had them before Sean got killed – a long time before that.”