Jamie Squire / Getty Images
Inside linebacker Jovan Belcher #59 of the Kansas City Chiefs watches from the sidelines during his final game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium on November 25. Belcher killed himself on Saturday after fatally shooting his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins.
By Isolde Raftery, NBC News
A day after Jovan Belcher, a Kansas City Chiefs linebacker, fatally shot his girlfriend and then drove to a stadium parking lot where he committed suicide in front of two coaches and general manager, fans gathered at Arrowhead stadium for a game against the Carolina Panthers, where they cheered for their team but also mourned a tragedy.
Before the game, Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt told the Kansas City Star newspaper that it had been a rough 24 hours for the Chiefs family.
"We have so many guys on the team and on the coaching staff who are really hurting," Hunt said.
According to police reports, Belcher, 25, and his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, 22, were arguing around 7 a.m. on Saturday. Also at their home was Belcher's mother, who was visiting to help care for their three-month-old daughter, Zoey Michelle.
Around 7:50 a.m., Belcher shot Perkins several times. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Belcher drove 15 minutes to Arrowhead Stadium where he stood in the parking lot and thanked general manager Scott Pioli, head coach Romeo Crennel and linebackers coach Gary Gibbs, for what they had done for him, news reports said. Belcher had played three seasons for the Chiefs and had started in nearly every game.
Then he pulled the trigger.
Ed Zurga / AP
Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, left, and coach Romeo Crennel stand together before an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. on Sunday, the day after witnessing linebacker Jovan Belcher kill himself.
Over the weekend, Perkins? friends and family described a fraught relationship.
"She knew something was off with him," Lynell Diggs, a friend of Perkins, told Newsday.
The night before the murder-suicide, Diggs and Perkins had been together at a Trey Songz concert. At a restaurant after the concert, Diggs said that Perkins talked about her concerns that her boyfriend wasn?t doing well, according to Newsday.
Angela Perkins, 32, Kasandra's cousin, told Newsday on Long Island that Belcher and Perkins hadn't been getting along for some time. She had visited around the time the baby was born, she said.
She said having a baby and Belcher's busy schedule strained their relationship, according to Newsday.
Perkins' Instagram profile suggested a different story. On Friday, fewer than 24 hours before she died, she posted photos of Belcher smiling and kissing their daughter.
Related: Chiefs will have a moment of silence for all domestic violence victims?
Outside Belcher?s mother?s home Saturday in West Babylon, N.Y., where he grew up and attended high school, friends and family gathered. Jerseys and Letterman jackets had been hung up along the outside of the house. Trophies and photographs lined the ground beneath.
They raised plastic cups to toast Belcher, described as quiet, thoughtful, a role model.
Belcher was a native of West Babylon, N.Y., on Long Island, where he had played football but wasn't recruited to play college ball,?according to the Boston Globe. Rather, he was a star wrestler who kept trim ? 6-foot-2 and under 200 pounds.?
In 2008, Belcher told the Globe: "I do like being the underdog because you can come up and surprise people."
At the University of Maine, Belcher became the team captain and was named national defensive player of the year.
"When he got to campus, he was a phenomenally impressive young man, in how he conducted himself in and around the young men in our program," Maine coach Jack Cosgrove told the Globe at the time. "We were fortunate nobody else recruited him."?
Cosgrove described Belcher's "infectious smile" and said he was a great role model who worked well with children ? the football player had been a child development and family relations major. ?
Related: Police: Kansas City Chiefs linebacker kills girlfriend, then himself
The Chiefs? Hunt told the Kansas City Star that he left the decision of whether to postpone Sunday?s game against the Panthers to head coach Crennel.
Hunt said the captains "unanimously believed the right thing to do was to play the game, and that?s how the decision was made."
The Chiefs also decided to have a moment of silence for victims of domestic violence at the game and to keep Belcher?s locker intact ? at least for now.
The Chiefs won Sunday?s game, 27 to 21.
MSNBC's Alex Witt talks with The Nation's Dave Zirin about the Kansas City Chiefs playing on Sunday, a day after linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend and then himself.
More content from NBCNews.com:
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
?
khan academy Espn College Football Eddie Murphy died Suzanne Barr Clint Eastwood speech Maria Montessori clint eastwood
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন