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Last updated on Sunday, December 2, 2012
(Kansas City, Mo.) - In an apparent murder-suicide, a Kansas City Chiefs player shot himself in the head in front of his coaches at a team training facility after earlier shooting to death his girlfriend 22-year-old Kasandra M. Perkins at her residence, police said.
Kansas City, Missouri, police spokesman Darin Snapp identified the player as linebacker Jovan Belcher, 25, according to NFL.com.
The player took his life in the parking lot near Arrowhead Stadium as officers pulled up to park and saw him with a gun to his head talking to coaches, Snapp told reporters earlier.
About 20 minutes prior to his suicide, the player shot his girlfriend in her nearby home, Snapp said.
The NFL.com reported that Snapp said the mother described the relationship as "on-again, off-again."
Also, Snapp told NFL.com that before his suicide, the player was talking to Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, coach Romeo Crennel and an unnamed Chiefs staff member. Pioli and Crennel "never felt like they were in danger," Snapp said.
The player thanked the general manager and coach for all they had done for him, according to NFL.com.
When officers arrived, the player walked away from the three Chiefs personnel and "a couple seconds later, they heard the gunshot," Snapp told NFL.com. The shooting occurred outside the facility's front doors, Snapp said.
In speaking to reporters at Arrowhead, Snapp stated: "There's an eyewitness at the original scene, that gave us a suspect description, and it appears the suspect killed himself, so we shouldn't be out here too much longer."
The Chiefs confirmed an incident at the stadium. "We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation," a team statement said.
The house in which the girlfriend was fatally shot is at the end of quiet, residential street of new homes, where sidewalks and driveways were recently paved and some parcels remained undeveloped. Police used yellow tape Saturday to cordon off the property surrounding the two-story split-level house.
Belcher, a 6-foot-2, 228-pound left inside linebacker, spent all four of his NFL seasons with the Chiefs, who signed him as a free agent out of college. In all, he played in 59 games, including 44 starts. Last season, he posted a career-high 120 tackles to rank second on the team.
Belcher was from West Babylon, New York, on Long Island where he played football at West Babylon High School. Then he played for the University of Maine Black Bears, where he started in all 45 games of his four-year career.
The Chiefs are scheduled to play at home against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
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