After shooting his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins dead, Jovan Belcher leaned over her body in their bathroom, said he was sorry and kissed her on the forehead, it has emerged.
Jovan Belcher’s apologetic goodbye was witnessed by his mother, who had heard gunfire and ran to her son’s bedroom at his rented Independence, Missouri home, police told the Kansas City Star.
The 25-year-old NFL player, who later went on to kill himself outside his team’s stadium, then said sorry to his mother, kissed his three-month-old daughter and jumped into his Bentley to flee the scene.
The descriptions of Jovan Belcher’s last hours alive, revealed by police sources, provide more details surrounding the death of his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, 22, and his suicide on Saturday morning.
Sources have claimed that the pair was struggling with parenthood just ahead of the football season, and the stress at home caused him to snap.
His team had even provided counseling to help the couple with their problems, the Star reported.
Jovan Belcher’s mother, who will now take care of the couple’s orphaned daughter, had moved from New York to Missouri to help the pair during the stressful time.
She told police that, just before 8 a.m. on Saturday, she heard her son say: “You can’t talk to me like that!” before she heard gunfire, the Star reported.
Jovan Belcher shot Kasandra Perkins in the chest, neck and abdomen.
He then drove to Arrowhead Stadium, where he came across Chiefs General Manager Scott Pioli and got out of his car with his gun pointed at his own head.
“I did it,” Jovan Belcher said, according to police.
“I killed her.”
He added that, despite the team’s counseling, “it was too late”.
Scott Piolo tried to persuade Jovan Belcher to put down the gun but Belcher simply thanked him for everything he had done for him, and asked him to take care of his daughter.
As Chiefs Head Coach Romeo Crennel and linebackers coach Gary Gibbs arrived, Jovan Belcher reportedly said: “Guys, I have to do this.”
With the sounds of police sirens getting closer, Jovan Belcher ignored the pleas of his bosses and walked away, saying: “I got to go, I can’t be here.”
Jovan Belcher then knelt behind a car, made the sign of the cross across his chest and fired a single shot into his head, the Star reported.
“He cared about her,” Police Sgt. Richard Sharp said.
“I don’t think he could live with himself.”
