Today's awful murder-suicide involving Kansas City Chiefs player Jovan Belcher is the latest in a string of suicides by NFL players.
Here's a timeline:
- In April, former Atlanta Falcons player Ray Easterling shot himself. He was 62, and an autopsy found that he had the degenerative brain disease CTE that's believed to be caused by head trauma.
- In May, former San Diego Chargers player Junior Seau shot himself in the chest. He was 43.
- In July, Tennessee Titans wide receiver OJ Murdock shot himself. He was 25.
- Today, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot himself in the parking lot of the team's practice facility after allegedly killing his girlfriend in front of his three-month-old daughter.
The brain disease CTE is known to cause erratic behavior, but it's unclear if all of these players were afflicted with that condition.
No matter the cause, it's a disturbing trend.
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