Kansas City Chiefs player, Jovan Belcher, kills girlfriend, self

[bballguy]

fucked up....

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Police say Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend early Saturday, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and committed suicide in front of his coach and general manager.

Police spokesman Darin Snapp confirmed it was Belcher, a fourth-year player from West Babylon, N.Y., who played college ball at Maine. The woman's name has not yet been released.

Snapp said Belcher shot the woman at a Kansas City residence, then drove to the Chiefs facility. He thanked Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel for all they had done for him, then shot himself.

The Chiefs say Sunday's home game against the Carolina Panthers will go on as scheduled.

Authorities received a call Saturday morning from a woman who said her daughter had been shot multiple times at a residence about five miles away from the Arrowhead complex.

"When we arrived, a lady informed us that her daughter had been shot multiple times by her boyfriend, by the daughter's boyfriend," Snapp said. "She identified him as a Chiefs player."

Snapp said a call was then received from the Chiefs' facility.

"The description matched the suspect description from that other address. We kind of knew what we were dealing with," he said. The player was "holding a gun to his head" as he stood in front of the front doors of the practice facility.

"And there were Pioli and Crennel and another coach or employee was standing outside and appeared to be talking to him. It appeared they were talking to the suspect," Snapp said. "The suspect began to walk in the opposite direction of the coaches and the officers and that's when they heard the gunshot. It appears he took his own life."

The coaches told police they never felt in any danger, Snapp said.

"They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him," he said. "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself."

Snapp described the girlfriend as in her early 20s and that she and the player had a child together. He said the woman's mother told police they had recently been arguing.

Arrowhead Stadium has been lockdown since about 8 a.m.

"We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning," the Chiefs said in a statement. "We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation."

The season has been a massive disappointment for the Chiefs, who were expected to contend for the AFC West title.

They're just 1-10 and mired in an eight-game losing streak that has been marked by devastating injuries and fan upheaval, with constant calls the past few weeks for Pioli and Crennel to be fired. Things have been so bad this season that Crennel fired himself as defensive coordinator.

The Chiefs have been ravaged by injuries, led the league in turnovers, can't settle on a quarterback and are dealing with a full-fledged fan rebellion. The Twitter account for a fan group known as "Save Our Chiefs" recently surpassed 80,000 followers, about 17,000 more than the announced crowd at a recent game.

Sauce: CBSSports.com

[spideyv2]

holy fuck

[pastarocket]

My heart and prayers to Jovan Belcher's family. Heartbreaking news. Another young life gone too soon along with a dead ex-girlfriend.

What is really disturbing is all the recent news of professional athletes dying as a result of suicide, homicide etc.

First, Junior Seau, now Jovan.

Can the NFL commissioner do anything to ensure that players facing mental and physical health issues have professional support services to help them? Counselling?

Are these suicides related to the extremely violent nature of football and its impact on the brain?


Interesting article about suicide in professional sports (Columbia University): http:
//www.dana.org/news/features/detail_rop.aspx?id=39354

From the article about the NFL: More than 1,500 former players are now suing the league, claiming that, for years, it ignored evidence that repeated blows to the head trigger chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by repetitive trauma to the brain which has been linked to dementia and depression.

[punkwax]

I don't think this one has anything to do with concussions. Let's try not to beat that dead horse in this thread.

Sometimes people do really stupid shit. Sometimes it doesn't take brain trauma to do it.

[iwantaskyline]

3 month old baby..poor kid.

[murd0c]

wow sad as fuck

[H.Specter]

current season record:




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1-10 .

[StylinRed]

what a pos

[bballguy]

I think Matt Cassel is to blame here...