Tragedy has struck in the heart of the country as the murder-suicide of a member of the Kansas City Chiefs is being investigated.

The four year NFL veteran and Chiefs starting linebacker Javon Belcher, 25, fatally shot his girlfriend early Saturday morning before driving to Arrowhead Stadium where he committed suicide in front of head coach Romeo Crennel and General Manager Scott Pioli.

Police spokesman Darin Snapp said that the police had received a call from a woman saying her daughter was shot multiple times, and then the police received a call from the Chiefs’ facility. Snapp said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times “The description matched the suspect description from that other address. We kind of knew what we were dealing with.”

Snapp also said Belcher, with a gun pointed to his head, was thanking Pioli and Crennel for everything they had done for him before walking away and pulling the trigger.

Belcher, who played his college football at the University of Maine, went undrafted in the 2009 NFL draft before then Chiefs’ Head Coach Todd Haley gave him an opportunity.

Belcher capitalized on the opportunity and became a starter in the 2010 season, recording 53 tackles and 31 assisted tackles. He continued to have success in the 2011 season, where he recorded 61 tackles and 26 assists. He also had started 10 games in the 2012 season before his death on December 1, 2012.

The Chiefs played their game as scheduled Sunday, coming out on top with a 21-21 victory over the Carolina Panthers.  In a post-game interview, Crennel said “As far as playing the game, I thought that was the best for us to do, because that’s what we do. We’re football players and football coaches and that’s what we do, we play on Sunday.”

Team owner Clark Hunt added in a similar interview “It’s been an incredibly difficult 24 hours for our family and our entire organization. We have so many guys on our team and our coaching staff who are really, really hurting.”

Next up for the Chiefs is their week 14 matchup with the last place in the AFC North Cleveland Browns.