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Subscribe to RSSHours before the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend, he was found sleeping in his car. Those moments were recorded by a police cruiser's dash camera. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Police released video Friday night that shows officers finding Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher asleep in his car just hours before he killed his girlfriend and later shot himself.
The recording was among two dashboard videos made available by police nearly a week after the murder-suicide. The second video shows an officer responding to Arrowhead Stadium, where Belcher shot himself in front of team officials shortly after killing Kasandra Perkins at their home on Dec. 1.
The first video shows officers finding Belcher asleep in his parked car around 3 a.m. that day outside an apartment complex. Officers talk to him, and he identifies himself as a Chiefs player.
Police said he was cooperative and told officers he was there to visit a woman he described as his girlfriend but that she wasn't home. The video shows Belcher later stepping out of his car and thanking officers, saying he's going to go upstairs.
Police have said a woman allowed Belcher into the building, though she wasn't identified.
The second video begins around 8 a.m. from the dashboard of a patrol car speeding to the stadium. Officers can be heard over the police radio confirming there had been a shooting connected to Belcher, and later that there was an armed suspect at the stadium.
The video shows the police vehicle arriving at a stadium parking lot and the officer stepping out, asking over his radio that other responding officers cut off their sirens, which can be heard in the distance.
"I've got a sighting from afar, it looks like they're in a negotiation ... I need a rifle asap," the officer says as he walks toward the parking lot. "I'm at the south side. I'm at the main entrance, trying to sneak up on foot."
The video cuts off seconds later.
Police have said officers were called to Belcher's home around 7:50 a.m., after he fatally shot Perkins, whose body was found on the floor of the master bathroom with multiple gunshot wounds. Belcher and Perkins had a 3-month-old daughter, Zoey.
Belcher then drove about five miles to the stadium, where he was met by general manager Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel, whom Belcher thanked for all they had done for him. When police arrived at the stadium, Belcher moved behind a vehicle, out of clear view of officers, knelt down and shot himself once in the head, according to police spokesman Darin Snapp.
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Leave a Comment:
He's was a Murderer, and now he's dead.....let it go NBC.... this article does and means nothing.
Enough already. This murderer does not deserve any press. What is the matter with NBC???
fox is running the video also. Go yell at them.
And why this murder does not deserve any press ?
"shot himself once in the head"
Yeah, that second shot is difficult. He is a couple hours late with his suicide. We here hope baby Zoey will be safe and happy and protected.
One of the challenges of our society is finding that invisible line between compassionate intervention and invasion of privacy. In most cases human beings in emotional crisis telegraph clear -- or at least concerning -- signs of emotional distress, and display the need for help from others; if we know how to recognize the signs.
Often when those signs are missed, or loved ones and friends choose to 'step back' --offering respectful "room" -- rather than 'stepping forward', and intervening to confront, and offer help and the sharing of emotional burdens.
Too often we misjudge what is needed by those we love or care about in times of crisis. And too often personal crisis ends in tragedy.
Coursework in basic human psychology shouldn't be reserved for higher education but should become part of the curriculum of every American school student at the Middle and High School level. Not only would such coursework help us all to better understand our family members, friends and even casual acquaintances, but perhaps more important it would help us all to better understand ourselves, and raise our level of personal insight and earlier recognition of when we, ourselves, may need help.
Come on, Robert, your theorizing does not apply to this case.
The police went to the Chiefs' practice center with the information that Bechler was implicated in a shooting: a murder at his residence. The officer parked far enough away that he stated he would need a rifle, also knowing that the report was of a man with a gun. The cops were able to put 2+2 together enought to know that the man with the gun just might have been Belcher. It was, and the coward chose to blow his brains out. Case closed, but too bad he didn't live to be convicted in court.
Does the baby get the NFL player's life insurance? Probably not, since it was a suicide---the murdered mother may have had life insurance from Belcher but I doubt that, too. So the baby can now grow up with Grandma and the bills she would now have to pay.
Sorry, but what goes around comes around. Guns are always the easy and cheap way to die.
Actually the baby gets over 100,000 for the first years of her life which then becomes around 50,000 until she is 18 and then I believe it is 20,000. I think this is through the NFLPA (NFL Players Union). At least that is what has been reported in the Kansas City paper.
David,
I thought when it came to insurance payments etc... it has to be an accidental death.
It is very extreme, obviously, to kill oneself like this. I wonder if there is more to the story about what happened and why. I wonder if he felt trapped in the relationship. Pro athletes seem to be targets, since they have the fame and the money.
Nothing extreme about a low-lifed-piece-of-chit taking the easy way out. IMO, the police should have caught hint that this slime ball was stalking his girlfriend. He was laying out side trying to catch her with somebody. Had question why was he sleeping outside, or go inside with him to further understand why he was out there, then maybe, just maybe lives would have been saved.
All his teammates should have unzippered their pants and pissed on his grave. The big close to 300 lbs piece of chit shot a defenseless woman, the mother of his child. How fackin low can you go. I agree with everyone here, the only mention of this slimeball is how slimy, and a coward he was..
I for one, virtually pissing on his grave, and he will be forever more known as the biggest piece of chit for 2012, or the whole decade.
^^^^YES THIS^^^^^^
I don't give a darn that this moron killed himself. I care that he MURDERED someone! Apparently you don't think the girlfriend mattered, eh? WTF is wrong with you?
Enough already! Domestic violence is prevalent in the USA. Sad but true. So just because he's a jock in the NFL, the media inundates us. Print stop the violence help instead.
So he's out trying to see another girl at 3 AM and then goes home and is angry at his other girlfriend because she was out at a rock concert. The sense of entitlement these professional athletes have is amazing not to mention the culture of no relational responsibility evident in all involved.
I realize your comment was intended for professional athletes. But it is not that uncommon for men and women to be fooling around... married or unmarried. And men jealous of their woman fooling around (or suspected of fooling around) is not uncommon either. I have seen it in my wife's family. Very controlling men.
And some men view a woman as their property, therefore very possessive. Won't let her do anything, always checking up, always questioning, sometimes stalking.
Everyone has left out the obvious, or the elephant in the room. He committed suicide, he had been to counseling with his girlfriend for months prior to the last incident and a list of items. He had emotional problems to say the least. Why, we do not know. But to talk about a perfect storm, you have someone with emotional problems operating on little sleep---is it a surprise that the outcome was unfortunate? Only the degree of the event is the surprise, not that something negative occurred.
In addition, these guys are not screened as being able to handle such 'stardom' or preferential treatment prior to joining the NFL. There is no NFL minor league to see how they react and many have been treated as heroes throughout high school and college. We can all be certain that his other 'mistakes' have been overlooked in the past, that is where the real problem lies. The culture of preferential treatment for athletes in our society breeds this type of thing. By the times they are in the pros, the behaviors are internalized and beyond difficult to correct. Something has to change with all of our priorities.
You pretty much nailed the situation here, William. We've seen this behavior in pro athletes time and time again, especially with pro football players, a huge percentage of whom seem to think the universe revolves around them. When you combine the violent and aggressive nature of pro football with someone who already has an ego problem, there's not much of a chance that anything good will come from that.
Let's get it right here. You say "agreesive nature".. What agreesive nature was used against a petite not over 120 lbs female?
Your sentence should have read, when we combine a GUN with a ego problem, that is where we have a problem. Sure, gun proponents would say, he could have killed her another way. Well, I say, why didn't he. The big cowardly piece of chit, and not saying this applies to all gun-owners, had the gun to make himself feel like a big man. In the end, the whole world now sees how much the a wimp/coward/low-life he was, but he had a gun. He thought he was the big cheese. The piece of chit couldn't stand heartbreak. Men and women all go throgh heartbreak, it is part of growing up. These peeps with these guns make them think they are big men/women.. Sheesh..
Great ideal............Let's memorialize a murderer............
How is this a memorialization? I did not view it and say "wow he was such a nice guy". It only answers if there was anything the police could have done to prevent the tragedy and it seems not to be the case as he was behaving as anyone would at that point. He went off the deep end later on in the day. Do you know what the term 'memorialize' means?
Seems to me that murdering an unarmed girl with a gun is kind a a chickenshlt move. Killing yourself afterward to avoid (again) responsibility for what you've done is a double chickenshlt move. Wow, what a man! Bet the parents and relatives are thrilled with the great job they did on this moron.
I'll bet the parents and relatives will eventually move toward being angry that he bailed out on his child and took his wife with him.
Maybe if the cops hadn't been hassling him, he might have remained asleep and the woman a live. who knows ?
steroids????
Well, I gotta ask - How many of you feel enriched by this bit of "news?" Worthless.
If you don't like the news you get from NBC, then quit coming here and quit posting your whiny comments
Put this to bed... He's a murderer and a coward...
One Dallas player dead and the other arrested. Where is Whitlock and Costas screaming about the drug and alcohol culture in America, which by the way, kill more people every year than guns.
wgrider,I agree with your post.It's too bad that this young aspiring athlete didn't have the common sense to not get in a car with a drunk driver,who has had a prior.It's also a shame that the media glorifies these athletes.
It was tragic that he killed his girlfriend and robbed the baby of their mother.It was a thoughtless and horrible thing to do to his mother.Can the media now let this go.He made his living as a football player,big deal.He's no hero to me.