Chiefs' Player Jevon Belcher involved in murder-suicide, shoots self at Arrowhead

[MoreLemonPledge]

No details yet. Just came across on the news.

edit: Sources say the player is Jovan Belcher. Police have yet to confirm.

An unnamed Kansas City Chiefs player has committed suicide at the team facility and authorities are on the scene, the police confirmed to ESPN on Saturday morning.

Local reports say police are operating with the belief the player fatally shot his girlfriend at a house before driving to Arrowhead Stadium and killing himself at around 8 a.m local time. The Associated Press reported the player's age to be 25.

"We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning," the Chiefs said in a statement. "We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation."

There were no other injuries at the team facility, police said.

The Chiefs (1-10) were preparing to host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

The NFL has told the Panthers to travel as planned to Kansas City on Saturday, the Charlotte Observer has reported, citing interim general manager Brandon Beane.


http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/86...-team-facility

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by MoreLemonPledge

Why in the world are they making these teams play a game after such an emotional event with less preparation than usual? It makes no sense.

Seriously? This is a serious question?



The NFL isn't one person. The NFL employs 1,920 players, more than 300 coaches, multiple stadium employees but furthermore, has contractual obligations to NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN and the NFL Network.

They are not going to cancel a game because an unknown, unheralded player on a 1-10 team decided to kill his girlfriend and himself.

[#1 Bronco's Fan]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

This just makes football so irrelevant.

Not really, The NFL still needs to make their money. GAME ON!!!

[MoreLemonPledge]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Seriously? This is a serious question?



The NFL isn't one person. The NFL employs 1,920 players, more than 300 coaches, multiple stadium employees but furthermore, has contractual obligations to NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN and the NFL Network.

They are not going to cancel a game because an unknown, unheralded player on a 1-10 team decided to kill his girlfriend and himself.

I wouldn't expect them to cancel it. But a postponement would make sense. From a business point of view, not only does it seem completely callous and heartless, but the product on the field will certainly be affected. I understand contracts and such, but they have postponed games before for unprecedented events. This certainly qualifies.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by MoreLemonPledge

So slightly OT, but there were a few Panthers players at my place of employment this afternoon. I'm guessing the incident today messed with their pre-game preparation quite a bit. I'm wondering if they get any time to practice at all. I know the Chiefs aren't. Why in the world are they making these teams play a game after such an emotional event with less preparation than usual? It makes no sense.

Jack Harry just said on the news the players voted to play. I am sure if they had voted not to play then the NFL would have respected that at least I hope they would have.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Jack Harry just said on the news the players voted to play. I am sure if they had voted not to play then the NFL would have respected that at least I hope they would have.

The players would have had no choice in the matter.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by MoreLemonPledge

I wouldn't expect them to cancel it. But a postponement would make sense. From a business point of view, not only does it seem completely callous and heartless, but the product on the field will certainly be affected. I understand contracts and such, but they have postponed games before for unprecedented events. This certainly qualifies.

I disagree.

And apparently, so does the NFL.

[MoreLemonPledge]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I disagree.

And apparently, so does the NFL.

Guess so. It just seems somewhat wrong to have people tailgating where somebody killed themself 24 hours prior.

[KcMizzou]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Seriously? This is a serious question?



The NFL isn't one person. The NFL employs 1,920 players, more than 300 coaches, multiple stadium employees but furthermore, has contractual obligations to NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN and the NFL Network.

They are not going to cancel a game because an unknown, unheralded player on a 1-10 team decided to kill his girlfriend and himself.

The show must go on.

The machine keeps on...

I'm conflicted. It's terrible, but they're football players, and that sense of normality has to help a little, if just for this game. You know what I mean? Don't think, just play.

To me, the people who'd be most affected are Pioli and Crennel. They witnessed it. They were talking to the guy, trying to save him from himself. And he thanked them before he did it.

That's just all kinds of ****ed up, and something I hope I never have to experience.

[tk13]

This is like the 19th time we've gone through this discussion today, but still... this is not like any other situation in history... it's hard to really gauge what's right.

Yeah the guy killed himself and it's still a business and all that... but the guy did it at the team facility in front of his head coach. That's never happened before. If it was something that happened at his house or in a club I don't think it'd even be a question of playing the game. But he brought to this thing right to the team's door. I find it hard to believe Crennel or some of the defensive players will be mentally there tomorrow, but I guess we'll get to find out.

[HMc]

Originally Posted by tk13

This is like the 19th time we've gone through this discussion today, but still... this is not like any other situation in history... it's hard to really gauge what's right.

Yeah the guy killed himself and it's still a business and all that... but the guy did it at the team facility in front of his head coach. That's never happened before. If it was something that happened at his house or in a club I don't think it'd even be a question of playing the game. But he brought to this thing right to the team's door. I find it hard to believe Crennel or some of the defensive players will be mentally there tomorrow, but I guess we'll get to find out.

business as usual, then.

[Dayze]

of course, if we get crushed by 21+ points and put up a typical putrid performance, it'll all be blamed on Belcher. announcers will forget about how much we sucked beforehand anyway.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

The show must go on.

The machine keeps on...

I'm conflicted. It's terrible, but they're football players, and that sense of normality has to help a little, if just for this game. You know what I mean? Don't think, just play.

To me, the people who'd be most affected are Pioli and Crennel. They witnessed it. They were talking to the guy, trying to save him from himself. And he thanked them before he did it.

That's just all kinds of ****ed up, and something I hope I never have to experience.

Dude, if an employee at your place of business killed his girlfriend, then offed himself, would the owner shut it down the next day?

The NFL is a corporate entity with billion dollar contracts at stake with massive contractual obligations that aren't going to go away because some dipshit offs his girlfriend and himself.

What happened today was tragic and I'm sure it's affected the players and coaches of the Chiefs organization.

But the tragedy doesn't lie within the Chiefs organization or the NFL. The player didn't meet a tragic ending. He murdered someone, then in a move of complete and utter cowardice, killed himself.

If the NFL were to call off or postpone that game, I believe they would be doing a disservice to the players, the coaches and the league.

Plus, contractually, they'd probably be fairly ****ed.

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Dude, if an employee at your place of business killed his girlfriend, then offed himself, would the owner shut it down the next day?

The NFL is a corporate entity with billion dollar contracts at stake with massive contractual obligations that aren't going to go away because some dipshit offs his girlfriend and himself.

What happened today was tragic and I'm sure it's affected the players and coaches of the Chiefs organization.

But tragedy doesn't lie within the Chiefs organization or the NFL. The player didn't meet a tragic ending. He murdered someone, then in a move of complete and utter cowardice, killed himself.

If the NFL were to call off or postpone that game, I believe they would be doing a disservice to the players, the coaches and the league.

Plus, contractually, they'd probably be fairly ****ed.

Troof

[tk13]

I didn't think the game should be cancelled, but I think we're being way overdramatic here. This is a game between two crappy teams. FOX has their H level team calling the game. Nobody cares. This is not going to be some financial disaster for the NFL if the game was by chance moved to Monday. The game is going to probably have the excitement of a funeral tomorrow.

[BearsFan]

I'm still in complete shock. This just feels like a punch to the gut right now. No matter what team he was a part of, human lives were taken that didn't need to be taken. Tomorrow's Chiefs game is going to have an extremely weird vibe to it.