12/05/2012

In 911 call, Belcher's mom begs girlfriend not to die

Jamie Squire / Getty Images

Linebacker Jovan Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs watches from the sidelines during his final game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium on Nov. 25, 2012 in Kansas City, Missouri.

By Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News

While Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher was en route to Arrowhead Stadium early Saturday, about to kill himself, his mother placed a frantic 911 call to authorities during which she can be heard begging his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, not to die from her wounds.

"She's still breathing, but barely," Cheryl Shepherd, Belcher's mother, told the 911 dispatcher Saturday morning, in a call released by the Kansas City Fire Department on Tuesday. "Please hurry. I don't know how many times he got her. They were arguing."

As a dispatcher tells her help is on the way, Shepherd yells, "Kasandra, stay with me, the ambulance is on the way, you hear me? You hear me? Kasandra! Hey! Stay with me!"

Belcher, 25, and Perkins, 22, lived together with their three-month-old daughter, Zoey, and Belcher's mother, Shepherd. The murder-suicide was described in detail by The Kansas City Star, which reported that the couple had been arguing over their relationship and finances. 

On Saturday morning, Belcher allegedly shot Perkins, kissed her and Zoey, then headed to the team's practice facility, where he thanked his coached and fired a single shot in his head, saying, "I can't be here," according to sources.

In the 911 call released Tuesday, a baby can be heard crying in the background while Shepherd speaks with the dispatcher.

"Okay, listen ma'am, is she awake?" the dispatcher asks.

"Just barely, she's just barely open," Shepherd responds.

"Can she hear what you're saying?"

"Yes, she is moving when I talk to her. Please, God," Shepherd says. 

 "Okay. Is she bleeding?" the dispatcher asks. 

"Yes, she is," Shepherd says, as the baby began to cry. 

"Where is she bleeding from?"

"I can't tell, in the back, it looks like it," Shepherd tells her, anxiety rising in her voice.

A second dispatcher from the Kansas City Police Department then gets on the line and asks Shepherd where her son is.

"He left," Shepherd says. "Please just get this ambulance here. Please."

Police arrived at the couple's home at about 7:50 a.m. Saturday morning to find Perkins' body on the floor of the master bathroom with multiple gunshot wounds, according to a police incident report. 

Hours before the shooting, police found Belcher sleeping in his car outside an apartment complex about 10 miles away from his and Perkins' home. He told officers he was at the apartment to visit a woman he said was his girlfriend, but that she wasn't home. Belcher then made a phone call and a woman let him into the building, The Associated Press reported.

It's not clear who the woman was.

Belcher and Perkins had been living apart recently but got back together by Thanksgiving, friend Brianne York told The Associated Press.

Belcher's mother has been given temporary custody of the child. 

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

No comments:

Post a Comment