NFL Football Star Jovan Belcher Murders Mother Of His Child, Commits Suicide
According to police reports, 25-year-old Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins early on Saturday morning. Perkins was the mother of the couple’s three-month-old baby. Then Belcher drove to the team’s practice area at Arrowhead stadium and shot himself in the presence of Chiefs staff after first thanking them for everything they had done for him. It’s such a tragic story considering that all of the accounts from friends and family state although the couple had been arguing recently, they both loved their daughter and were enjoying being new parents.
From TMZ.com:
Members of Kasandra’s family tell TMZ … Jovan and Kasandra always seemed to be in love. In fact, we’re told when Kasandra got pregnant, she and Jovan were “ecstatic.” The family says ever since the baby was born in September, the two couldn’t have seemed happier together.
The 22-year-old’s family says they have NO IDEA why the relationship took a tragic turn this morning — when Jovan allegedly shot and killed Kasandra before taking his own life — and news of their deaths was both devastating and unexpected.
Jovan started playing with the Chiefs in 2009 — and Kasandra, who is originally from Texas moved to Missouri to be with him.
Belcher’s mother had recently moved in with the couple, according to the Daily Mail, supposedly to help with their new baby. Various sources claim that Kasandra returned home late after seeing a Trey Songz concert with friends, and that the incident occurred shortly thereafter. Belcher had a degree in early childhood development, and according to his agent, Joe Linta, the entire incident is so tragic and shocking due to the type of person Belcher was. From Kansas City:
”Jovan was a happy, proud father, with pictures of his baby on his Facebook page,” Belcher’s agent, Joe Linta, told Sports Illustrated on Saturday. ”This is shocking. Something went crazy wrong, and we’ll probably never know what it is.
”He came to my youth clinics in the offseason and worked with kids. He was a gracious, unselfish, hard-working, dedicated kid ”” very, very caring of some of the underprivileged kids who came to the clinics. I saw him in a real positive way.”
We may never know what caused Jovan Belcher to murder his girlfriend and then to take his own life. It seems so unthinkable, a football star with a beautiful girlfriend and a new baby, family and friends who loved them and were close by to offer support. Some studies suggest that football players are prone to PTSD because of brain injuries suffered while participating in the sport, which can manifest itself in symptoms such as memory loss, aggression, confusion and depression. Belcher is the second Kansas City Chiefs employee to be involved in a murder-suicide in the last four months. On Labor Day Luis Angel Roberson Rodriquez, who worked in the Chiefs stadium operations department, killed himself after shooting his girlfriend Jamie Kristine Kimble near the Tampa International Airport.
The Chiefs host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon, and there has been no word that the game will be postponed.
(photo: Instagram)
