Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend and then committed suicide on Saturday morning, according to Kansas City police. Early reports indicated that an unnamed player had killed his girlfriend and then driven to the Chiefs practice facility and shot himself. Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com later reported that the player was Belcher.
The first shooting reportedly took place at around 8 a.m. in a neighborhood about five miles away from Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs were preparing to take on the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and sources say the team has been told to travel to Charlotte as scheduled.
The team issued a statement on Saturday morning confirming that there was an incident but witholding any details while an investigation is underway.
“We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning,” the statement read. “We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation.”
To make matters even more disturbing, ESPN 980 in Washington, D.C. is reporting that Belcher may have shot himself in front of Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel and GM Scott Pioli:
Word out of Kansas City is that linebacker Javon Belcher, killed his girlfriend then committed suicide in front of head coach and GM.
— ESPN 980 (@ESPNRadio980) December 1, 2012
Our thoughts are with Belcher’s and the victim’s families. We’ll have more on this as details unfold.
