Athletes and Celebrities Not Immuned

Kansas City Chief's Player Kills Wife and Self in act of DVH

NEW BRAINTREE, MA  December 1, 2012  News was breaking today about a 25-year old Kansas City Chief's player who killed his live-in girlfriend before going to Arrowhead Stadium and killing himself.  This event casts light on a man in crisis who lost control of his behavior and in the end could not be stopped.  The specific sequence of events are still being gathered.

 Domestic violence effects people everywhere and exists in even the highest level of professional sport.  Arguably, professional sports requires both exceptional athleticism and a capacity to thrive in the limelight that is associated the 24 hr/day celebrity status.  Details of today's murder/suicide are not being released and by the time this blog is published the story may have grown legs and be gone.  The point of this blog is to erase all myths about how great it might be to play professional football and earn a big paycheck.  Clearly this event highlights the dearth of emotional resiliency some experience when stress is at its highest.  Professional athletes are not immune and in spite being well paid and pampered some men remain vulnerable to these terminal events.  In the end it is essential that we recognize those who are at greatest risk for domestic violence and domestic violence homicide.

It may never become public information just what triggered this case of domestic violence homicide.  A plethora of red flags may gradually seep into internet crawl offering hints about what might have been done.  A careful analysis of the events that immediately preceded the players emotional maelstrom may be important for local experts and perhaps for the Chief's internal player employee health practices.