(CNN) -- Jovan Belcher had been a success story, an underdog done good. An undrafted free agent from the fringes of the college football universe, he not only made the Kansas City Chiefs' roster, he made his mark -- playing every game since 2009, rising from special teams ace to starter, recording more and more tackles each season, and winning over teammates and fans along the way.
On Saturday, it all came to a bloody end.
Belcher first ended his girlfriend's life, police said, before taking his own just outside the front door of the Chiefs' practice facility. He and the woman he killed left behind a 3-month-old daughter.
Why? That much no one knows or at least has said publicly, beyond that Belcher and his girlfriend had been fighting of late.
"I am devastated and heart broken," wrote Jeff Allen, one of several Kansas City players who took to Twitter to express their grief and astonishment. "I'm sending prayers to everyone involved. Always show love and never be afraid to talk."
The first sign of trouble came around 7:50 a.m. (8:50 a.m. ET), when police in Kansas City, Missouri, got a call about a shooting. When officers arrived outside a split-level home in a middle-class neighborhood, a woman came out and told them a younger woman -- later identified as 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins -- "had been shot by her boyfriend several times," said police spokesman Darin Snapp.
About 20 minutes later, another call came into police. This one was from Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs' home, about "a person who was in the parking lot, armed with a handgun."
Officers sped over and noticed a black man, talking to several coaches, and holding a gun to his head, Snapp said.
"As the officers pulled up and began to park, that's when they heard the gunshot."
The bullet went into Belcher's head, killing him.
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