Nashville, Tennessee — Steve McNair was shot dead in his sleep last weekend by his 20-year-old girlfriend, who was upset about escalating financial troubles and her suspicions that the former NFL quarterback was seeing someone else, authorities said Wednesday.
Sahel Kazemi “was spinning out of control” when she shot McNair four times as he slept on a sofa early Saturday, then turned the pistol on herself, Nashville Police Chief Ronal Serpas said. According to interviews with acquaintances, Kazemi was paying for two cars, her rent had doubled, and she feared the married McNair was having a second affair with another young lady.
On Friday, Kazemi told a buddy, “My life is a ball of (expletive), and I should end it,” Serpas stated.
Police had already declared McNair’s death a homicide, but they waited for more testing and discoveries about Kazemi’s personal issues before establishing that she pulled the trigger of a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at a condominium rented by the former quarterback and his companion.
McNair, a Tennessee Titan for the most of his 13-year NFL career, met Kazemi six months ago at a restaurant where she worked as a waiter and his family frequently dined. Kazemi was joyful and eager to start a life with McNair, but something went wrong.
“We do know that she was clearly sending a message during the last five to seven days of her life that things were going bad quickly,” Serpas said, adding that there was no evidence Kazemi informed anybody she intended to hurt McNair.
Serpas said police discovered that Kazemi recently heard of another young lady she felt McNair was romantically connected with and had even followed her home, but she did not confront the woman.
Serpas stated that investigators believe McNair, 36, was asleep when he was slain since there were no defensive wounds. After shooting McNair in the head, Kazemi supposedly shot him twice in the chest before shooting him again in the head and killing herself.