Crennel: “I wasn’t able to reach the young man”

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Story by NBC News

 

Written by Mike Florio 

 

To cap an emotional and informative opening segment to Football Night in America, Peter King of Sports Illustrated supplied some new details regarding Saturday’s tragic events in Kansas City.

Citing a source close to law enforcement on the scene, King explained that Jovan Belcher and Chiefs G.M. Scott Pioli separately arrived at the parking lot outside the team’s facility, at approximately 8:00 a.m. local time.  Pioli noticed that Belcher seemed very upset. Police say Pioli tried to calm him down.

At the same time, a Chiefs security officer saw that Belcher had a gun in his possession.  The security officer called police.

During a short conversation, Belcher thanked Pioli for giving him an opportunity as an undrafted free agent from Maine in 2009.  Belcher then asked Pioli to call coach Romeo Crennel and defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs so that he could thank them, too.

Crennel and Gibbs came outside, and Belcher thanked them profusely.  He wasn’t willing to talk to them or to be reasoned with.  Instead, he repeatedly thanked them.

“I wasn’t able able to reach the young man,” Crennel told King after the game, but Crennel declined to be specific about what Belcher had said.

Belcher then turned around, began to walk away and shot himself in the head.