NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Steve McNair’s girlfriend feared that her life was crumbling when she shot the former NFL star to death before committing suicide.
“We can’t put ourselves in the minds of people who do these terrible, irrational acts, but there is evidence she was spinning out of control,” Nashville Police Chief Ronal Serpas said of McNair’s 20-year-old girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, at a press conference Wednesday.
The 36-year-old McNair, who led the Tennessee Titans to the 2000 Super Bowl, was found dead Saturday at his condominium in downtown Nashville, Tenn. Serpas said that evidence points to McNair having been asleep on the couch when Kazemi shot him, since there were no defensive wounds. Police believe that Kazemi shot McNair in the head first, followed by two shots in the chest and another shot to the head at close range.
Serpas said that before Kazemi turned the gun on herself, she sat next to McNair’s body and “tried to stage it so she would fall in his lap.” Ultimately, her body ended up on the floor next to McNair’s feet, with the gun falling underneath her.
McNair, who was married, reportedly started dating Kazemi about six months ago after meeting her at Dave & Busters, where she worked as a waitress.
Interviews with Kazemi’s friends painted the picture of a young woman who felt that her life was falling apart. In addition to mounting financial problems, Kazemi believed that McNair was having a second affair with a younger woman. She expressed her fears the day before the shooting, telling a friend: “My life is a ball of s— and I should end it.”
“We do know that she was clearly sending a message during the last five to seven days of her life that things were going bad quickly,” said Serpas.
“She, to us, was still a little kid and probably couldn’t handle the pressure,” Kazemi’s nephew, Farzin Abdi, told the Tennessean. “She was only 20 years old, and he cheated on her and on his wife, too … We never knew about financial troubles.”
Earlier this week, authorities revealed that Kazemi had purchased the 9mm pistol just two days before the shooting. That was also the same day that she was arrested by Nashville police on a DUI charge while driving a 2007 Escalade that McNair bought her in May as a birthday gift. The four-time Pro Bowler was a passenger and allowed to leave by taxi following the arrest.
Officials had previously confirmed that McNair was the victim of a homicide, but they were hestitant to rule whether Kazemi was slain or committed suicide until examining ballistic and gunpowder residue tests.
McNair’s wife, Mechelle, whom he married in 1997, has yet to comment on her husband’s death. She and her husband were parents to four children, all sons.
Also see: Sahel Kazemi DUI Video
