Chiefs player legally drunk when he killed girlfriend: autopsy

A makeshift memorial for Kansas City Chiefs football player Jovan Belcher is seen outside his mother's home in West Babylon, New York December 4, 2012. Belcher, 25, shot and killed his 22-year-old girlfriend Kasandra Perkins, the mother of his three-month-old daughter, in front of his own mother at home before driving to Arrowhead Stadium where he shot himself dead in the parking lot after thanking team officials for all they had done for him.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher was legally drunk when he killed his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins and then took his own life last month, according to an autopsy released on Monday.

The report showed Belcher had a blood alcohol content of .17 - more than double the .08 level that by Missouri law makes a driver drunk.

Belcher, 25, killed Perkins, 22, in the bedroom of their home during an argument on the morning of December 1. He then drove to Arrowhead stadium, where the Chiefs play, and shot himself in the head.

The autopsy by the Jackson County Medical Examiner found that Belcher shot Perkins nine times, inflicting wounds to her neck, chest, stomach, legs and hands. She had negligible blood alcohol content, the autopsy showed.

Head coach Romeo Crennell and General Manager Scott Piolo, who have since left the Chiefs, tried to talk Belcher out of shooting himself. But he put a handgun to his temple and pulled the trigger. He was pronounced dead shortly after reaching the hospital.

Belcher and Perkins, parents of a three-month-old girl, had a stormy relationship, according to a recent police report.

Belcher had been visiting another girlfriend the night before the shooting, witnesses told police.

Police questioned Belcher about five hours before the shooting when he was spotted sleeping in his Bentley automobile on a street near the second girlfriend's apartment.

A video shows officers questioning Belcher outside his car. But he showed no outward sign of being drunk and was not given a blood alcohol test.

Belcher assured officers he was not getting back in the car and instead went into the apartment building after calling one of its occupants, according to police records.

He asked to be awakened at 6:45 a.m. so he could go to a team practice, police reports said.

(Editing by James B. Kelleher, Greg McCune and Jim Marshall)