12:52 AM CDT on Monday, July 17, 2006

By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News

File / DMN

Keith Davis

Dallas Cowboys safety Keith Davis, 27, was recovering at Baylor Medical Center Dallas Sunday after he was shot twice while driving along Interstate 635 at about 5 a.m. Sunday. It's the second time during his NFL career that Davis has been wounded by gunfire.

In Sunday's incident, police said Davis was driving westbound on the highway near the North Dallas Tollway when another car pulled alongside his Chevrolet Impala.

"A dark-colored vehicle with tinted windows fired multiple times at the victim and the passenger that was in the vehicle," said Dallas police spokesman Lt. Rick Watson. "The victim was struck twice."

Dallas police are investigating motive and suspects. Watson said carjacking may be a possibility because Davis' vehicle was said to be highly customized.

"If indeed this is the motive, then, yes, I would agree it is a little unusual to have a carjacking in the middle of the 5400 block of LBJ Freeway," the police spokesman said.

Watson said Davis was in stable condition and his injuries were not considered life-threatening. He was driven to RHD Memorial Medical Center by a passenger in his car following the shooting. Davis was later transferred to Baylor University Medical Center for surgery, Watson said.

The player's agent, Curtis Stephens, said the injuries to Davis were minor. He added that his client expects to be able to check in when Cowboys training camp begins one week from this Thursday.

Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple said Sunday that the team was aware of the incident, but he declined to comment further.

Watson said police are also looking into a shooting incident three years ago involving the Cowboys player.

In June 2003, Davis was shot in the elbow and right hip outside a Dallas strip club. He said he was there to pick up a friend at about 2:15 a.m. June 29 and was nearly run over by a car as an argument began. Soon thereafter, shots rang out.

He later said that his girlfriend became involved in a dispute and he tried to protect her.

Davis was cut from the Cowboys on the first day of training camp the next month. The 2003 shooting came not long after a stern warning from then-new coach Bill Parcells to the team about avoiding off-field troubles.

Davis was reallocated to NFL Europe by the Cowboys and was assigned to the Berlin Thunder for the 2004 campaign. He was named All-NFL Europe.

Davis re-signed with the Cowboys in January 2004 and was the team’s best special-teamer. During the 2004 training camp, Coach Parcells called Davis to the front of the team meeting room and had him show his teammates his scars as a warning not to get into trouble on their first night off at training camp.

In April, the Cowboys matched a two-year, $2.95 million offer New Orleans made to Davis as a restricted free agent. It included a $1.2 million roster bonus.

Davis, who grew up in Italy, Texas, started 15 games at free safety last year, his first as a starter. He finished fourth on the team with 68 tackles and led the team with 16 special teams’ tackles.

He first signed with the Cowboys in 2002 as an undrafted free agent and played in eight games after a football career at Sam Houston State University.

Watson said police were still trying to determine if Davis was targeted on Sunday or was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"We don’t know at this time exactly what the motive exactly is," Watson said.

WFAA-TV, Dallas Morning News staff writer Todd Archer and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

E-mail bformby@dallasnews.com