KANSAS CITY, Mo — Kansas City Chiefs’ linebacker Jovan Belcher told a woman friend he was so frustrated with his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, that he might shoot her, which he did in a murder-suicide on Dec. 1, according to a newly released police report.
Belcher, 25, was having an intimate relationship with the other woman and told her in a text message around early November that if Perkins didn’t leave him alone he would shoot her, the report said. The woman thought the text was a joke.
Belcher, a former University of Maine football star, shot Perkins, 22, at least 10 times after an argument in their house and then turned a gun on himself about 15 minutes later outside the Chief’s practice facility as head coach Romeo Crennel, General Manager Scott Pioli and other staff looked on.
Details of the Belcher case are contained in police reports submitted to the Jackson County prosecutor, who has ruled the event a murder-suicide. They include dozens of interviews with witnesses.
Belcher and Perkins, parents of a three-month-old girl, had a stormy relationship, according to interviews police conducted with Belcher’s other girlfriend, also 22. She told police that Belcher complained about Perkins threatening to take all his money and the baby if they broke up.
Belcher said Perkins “knew exactly how to press his buttons and make him angry,” according to a summary of the woman’s interview with police.
Belcher had been with the woman and some of her friends at a downtown Kansas City entertainment district the night before the shooting, the woman said. He spent part of the night in her apartment and part of it sleeping in his car before going home early in the morning, the report said.
Belcher and Perkins were arguing before he shot her, his mother, Cheryl Shepherd, told police. Shepherd had moved in with the couple two weeks earlier to help care for the baby. Shepherd heard Belcher say “You won’t talk to me that way” and then she heard a thump and gunshots.
Shepherd rushed into the bedroom and found Perkins laying on the bathroom floor, she told police. Before fleeing the house, Belcher knelt next to Perkins, apologized and repeatedly kissed her, his daughter and his mother, Shepherd said.
Belcher drove off in his Bentley to the practice facility at Arrowhead several miles away, where he pulled into the parking lot and saw Pioli, the report said. Pioli quoted Belcher as saying, “I did it, I killed her.” Belcher held a handgun to his own head. “I got to go, can’t be here, and take care of my daughter,” Pioli recalled Belcher saying.
Belcher had asked to speak with Crennel and linebacker coach Gary Gibbs, the report said. Crennel told police he pleaded with Belcher to put down the gun. One witness said she heard Crennel say, “you’re taking the easy way out.”
Belcher lowered the gun, but only to load a round into the chamber, Crennel told police. Seeing a police officer in the distance and hearing sirens, Belcher knelt behind a mini-van, blessed himself and fired the gun into his temple, the report said.
Belcher is still being praised in some parts of the Orono campus as a leader who merely had anger management issues. I predict his entry into the UME Sports Hall of Fame within a few years.
your prediction is very premature….
Enough wast of written space on this magot
Dead dirtbag……..move on.
He was a baby daddy with one woman, was seeing another woman, killed baby mommy then himself. This is not the story of a hero with a few issues, this is the story of someone immature with serious issues.
Ever wonder how TV wrestlers or football players can be thrown down without being injured? They can’t, but the injury might not show up for years. People who have been pounded on the head can get a disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. We read that CTE is not uncommon in folks who are heavy into contact sports.
Years ago in some movies the half-wit punch drunk boxer provided comic relief. Today the punch drunk athlete is a loose cannon.
Individuals with CTE may manifest their depression and aggression by shooting their families and then turning up on the evening news. Having your brain muddled in a sports arena is a calculated risk one takes while becoming a star.
If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.
The humble Farmer
This is important. It isn’t an excuse and he should have sought more help, admitted his feelings of rage. He could have committed suicide without taking another life. But it is important to realize that the brain is ultimately a fragile organ that dictates everything about how he feel, think and behave. You can’t knock it around and injure it for years without any consequence. I hope changes are coming, but I am afraid it will take many more of these incidents.
or his life was unstable to the point of committing this crime for which he is responsible for….he is responsible for, only he and no one else….there are no studies that scientifically link injuries with this type of behavior…
Gee, where was this information when it could have saved the young woman.