Jovan Belcher: The Morning After
John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE
Here is a roundup of just some of the Kansas City Chiefs news from this morning. We’ll see you all back here for our live game thread at noon central. -PA
“It’s hard to say a whole lot,” Quinn said. “Unfortunately I was on Denver when Kenny McKinley took his life, and there’s really not any words that can describe the emotions that are involved.“The big thing is (Belcher’s) daughter. I know a bunch of the guys are going to try to set up a fund to try to take care of his daughter. Her parents are not in her life anymore.”The day before a game begins early for some players who want medical treatment or extra film study, but not so early for others. Normally, there is a mandatory 9 a.m. meeting and an 11 a.m. walkthrough practice, but neither one happened on this Saturday.
Several players were, like Quinn, turned away from the practice facility by police. Other Chiefs employees were turned away as well until the building was opened for business later in the day.
“I went out there but I couldn’t get in,” said tight end DeMarco Cosby, a practice squad player. “The police wouldn’t let us in.”
From www.kansascity.com
For today, at least, there is some perspective because what matters is this: A young woman has been murdered, a newborn orphaned, a troubled young man dead by his own hand and several well-known Kansas City football men saw the bloody end to a tragedy that will have an impact for a very long time.That sinking feeling of loss — of an innocent life taken, of a child with a life now fractured, of the idea such horror can simply sneak into our own lives — those are the things meeting at the intersection of Chiefs football and this city.
From msn.foxsports.com
A woman first alerted police this morning that her daughter had been shot by her boyfriend, who was a Kansas City Chiefs player, Snapp said. Police initially believed the woman was Perkins’ mother, but later learned she was Belcher’s mother, who lived with the couple to help care for their daughter and according to family members felt extremely close to Perkins.It is believed Belcher drove to Arrowhead Stadium shortly after the shooting and police were called.”When the officers arrived, when they were pulling up, they actually observed a black male who had a gun to his head and he was talking to a couple of coaches out in the parking lot,” Snapp said. “As officers pulled up, and began to park, that’s when they heard the gunshot and it appears the individual took his own life.”
From abcnews.go.com
Said NFL Players Assn. Assistant Executive Director George Atallah: “There is nothing profound or comforting to say that can help us understand or explain a situation like this. We have been in touch with players. At a time like this, we can only come together as a family and a community.”Oakland Raiders wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey tweeted: “Very sad day in the NFL FAMILY. My prayers go out [to] the Chiefs and families involved.”Louis Murphy Jr., a wide receiver with the Carolina Panthers, tweeted: “Thoughts and prayers go out to the Kansas City Chiefs players and family.”
The Chiefs are scheduled to play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. The NFL told the Panthers to continue traveling to Kansas City for Sunday’s game, the Charlotte Observer reported.
From www.latimes.com
“I don’t get it,” he said. “I don’t get what was so wrong that he felt so alone that he had to do something like this.“This whole town is crying. Obviously something troubled him that made him go out of his character because he is so not like this.”Innes said he talked to Belcher before the Chiefs played the New York Giants last year — and jokingly asked Belcher not to hurt Giants quarterback Eli Manning.
“He said, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do, Coach.’ ”
Belcher graduated from the University of Maine, where he took part in a Male Athletes Against Violence effort, with a degree in child and family development.
Friends were mystified. “I still can’t believe it,” said Roy Brown. “He was the last person you’d think would ever have a problem.”
From www.nypost.com
“No more violence, Jovan,” they said.The coaches told cops they had never felt endangered, Snapp said.“They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they’d done for him. They were just talking to him, and he was thanking them and everything.”
But they could do nothing to stop him.
“The suspect began to walk in the opposite direction of the coaches and the officers, and that’s when they heard the gunshot,” Snapp said.
His last words, Pioli told Chiefs broadcaster Len Dawson, were, “I love you,” according to KMBC-TV.
From www.nypost.com