Brother of 49ers Quarterback Killed in Stabbing Outside Bar, Team Responds

Police tape in a stock photo. (Carl Ballou/Shutterstock)

Clayton Beathard, the younger brother of San Francisco 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard, was killed outside a bar in Nashville, Tennessee, according to reports.

Clayton Beathard, 22, and Paul Trapeni III, 21, were stabbed and died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The two were friends and high school football teammates, Yahoo News reported.

“The fatal stabbings appear to have resulted from an argument over a woman that began inside Dogwood Bar and then turned physical when the parties went outside. Multiple persons were involved in the outdoor fight during which the two men were both fatally stabbed in their sides. A third stabbing victim, a 21-year-old man, was treated and released,” Nashville Police said in a statement to Yahoo.

A suspect has not been arrested in the case.

Clayton Beathard was a junior quarterback at Long Island University.

Quarterback C.J. Beathard #3 of the San Francisco 49ers in a file photo (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The coach of the 49ers, Kyle Shanahan, said he rushed to C.J. Beathard’s hotel room when he learned of the news.

“There’s not much you can say,” Shanahan told ESPN. “You just try to hold a person and be there for him. We tried to figure it out, what we could do and the quickest way to get him to his family. But that was probably my first time in a situation like that, but I think it’s exactly what anybody would expect. There’s nothing to say, and it’s as tragic and as sad of a thing that can happen.”

He added: “So to me, when you try to say stuff, you’re just, you’re insulting the situation. It’s as bad as it gets, and you just have to be there for them, and it will be a hard deal to recover from, but he’s as strong as any person I’ve been around.”

The team also issued a statement following the death.

“The 49ers family was shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the tragedy involving C.J. Beathard’s younger brother, Clayton,” the team wrote in a statement on Twitter. “We extend our heartfelt sympathies to C.J. and the entire Beathard family as they cope with the unthinkable loss of a loved one. C.J. has traveled home to join his family knowing he has the support of our entire organization as they grieve the passing of Clayton.”

The Beathard family responded to Clayton’s death in a statement to The Tennessean newspaper.

“It’s times like this I wish had Instagram and social media because the love and prayers have been so overwhelming. We cannot possibly thank you at the rate they come in texts and phone calls,” the statement read. “Clay was an amazing, big and soft-hearted human being with an undeniable love for the Lord. He had his family’s, friends’ and teammates’ backs even to a fault. I wish he would have been more inclined to take the high road but he hated ‘wrong.’”