Former NFL quarterback Erik Kramer is alive after an apparent suicide attempt Tuesday night in Los Angeles, Kramer’s ex-wife and law enforcement sources told NBC Chicago.
Kramer reportedly shot himself in a Los Angeles-area hotel and was found by L.A. County sheriff’s deputies around 8 p.m. Tuesday with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
Kramer, 50, played for the Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers during his 10-year career, but his life has taken a turn for the worse in recent years. The California native divorced his wife, Marshawn, in 2010, and their 18-year-old son, Griffen, died from a drug overdose in 2011.
According to Marshawn, Kramer has been suffering from depression that she believes was the result of head injuries during his playing days.
“He is a very amazing man, a beautiful soul, but he has suffered depression since he was with the Bears,” Marshawn told NBC Chicago in a telephone interview. “I can promise you he is not the same man I married.”
Marshawn and Eric also have a 17-year-old son, Dillon.
“He’s such a good dad and he would not do this to his son,” she said. “This is brain injury.”
Head injuries in the NFL have become a pressing issue in recent years, especially after the 2012 suicide of Junior Seau, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame just weeks ago.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@sportingnews
