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Jovan Belcher’s Mother Begs Dying Kasandra Perkins to ‘Stay With Me!’ in 911 Call

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jovan Belcher‘s mother begged her son’s dying girlfriend to stay alive while frantically asking for an ambulance shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs linebacker shot the mother of his 3-month-old daughter, according to a recording released Wednesday of the emergency call.

Belcher, 25, shot 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins at their Kansas City home Saturday morning, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium, where he shot himself in the head in front of Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel, police said.

“She’s still breathing but please hurry,” Cheryl Shepherd says on the recording of her call with Kansas City emergency dispatchers. “I don’t know how he [inaudible]. They were arguing — please hurry.”

Shepherd also is heard encouraging Perkins to stay alive.

“Stay with me, the ambulance is on the way. Stay with me Kasandra, stay with me,” Shepherd yells.

Shepherd told dispatchers that Perkins was bleeding, “just barely” awake and that it looked as though she was wounded in the back. She said Perkins moved when she spoke to her.

When a police dispatcher asked about Belcher, Shepherd said only: “He left.”

When police arrived at the couple’s home at about 7:50 a.m., they found Perkins’ body on the floor of the master bathroom with multiple gunshot wounds, according to a police incident report.

Friends have said the couple had a strained relationship in the weeks before the shooting.

Hours before the murder-suicide, police found Belcher sleeping in his car outside an apartment complex about 10 miles from the home he shared with Perkins and their child. He told officers he was at the apartment to visit a woman he described as his girlfriend, but that she wasn’t home. Belcher then made a phone call and a woman let him into the building, police said. Police did not question the woman and said they don’t know who she is.

Belcher and Perkins lived apart recently but got back together by Thanksgiving, friend Brianne York told The Associated Press.

At Arrowhead, Belcher thanked Pioli and Crennel for all they had done for him. The men tried to persuade Belcher to put down his handgun but when police arrived, Belcher moved behind a vehicle, knelt down and shot himself once in the head, police said.

Belcher’s mother has been given temporary custody of the child.