The Oklahoma Sooners player killed his teammate due to a girlfriend issue.
The tale of the retired football legend, the mistress, the dangers of celebrity, and the murder that has the nation reeling for days was, in many ways, a very modern American tale.
However, authorities in Nashville, Tennessee, stated yesterday that they think jealousy—an age-old motivation—was behind the passing of quarterback Steve McNair, who helped his team win the Super Bowl nine years prior.
Investigators surmised in their first case summary since McNair’s death on Saturday in his Nashville apartment that a woman half his age, Sahel Kazemi, who was discovered dead next to him, shot him because she felt her life was falling apart and thought he was seeing another woman.
Chief of Police in Nashville, Ronal Serpas, stated, “We do believe there’s evidence that she was spinning out of control, but we can’t put ourselves in the minds of people who do these terribly irrational acts.”
According to the police, in the wee hours of Saturday morning, Kazemi, 20, shot McNair in the left temple while he slept on his couch. According to the police, she then shot three more times at close range, sat down on the couch next to his body, and took her own life so that she would fall into his lap. Her body fell to the ground after the shot.
The 36-year-old McNair was one of the greatest quarterbacks in football history, an African-American who succeeded in a position that was usually filled by white people. Instead of just passing the ball or handing it off, which are quarterbacks’ typical moves, he was able to run the ball forward and evade or knock over defenders, thrilling fans in the process. He played for the Tennessee Titans for seven seasons, winning a Super Bowl with them in 2000. After playing for two seasons in Baltimore, he retired from football two years ago and moved back to the city where he had established his home.
Friends have hinted since his passing that he struggled to adjust to life after stardom. People often overlook the fact that you go through certain emotions and physical, mental, and spiritual changes when you step away from the game. You evolve, and you’re always looking for something,” Eddie George, a former teammate, said on CNN.
As a teenager, Kazemi—who her friends called Jenny—and her family left Iran. Kazemi worked as a waitress at a middle-class chain restaurant in a Nashville shopping mall, where the two first met approximately half a year ago. Kazemi had recently broken up with her boyfriend and given her phone number to McNair, a regular customer. According to Brandon Millichamp, Kazemi’s colleague, “he was one of the nice guys who would talk to you, not like the other athletes,” as reported by the Tennessean newspaper.
In addition to taking Kazemi on vacations, McNair gave her an opulent Cadillac Escalde SUV as a 20th birthday present. Kazemi told family members they would eventually get married and move in together after he told her something. Kazemi’s family wasn’t impressed by McNair’s celebrity or the fact that he was already married with four kids because they weren’t football fans.
Due to her roommate’s decision to move out, Kazemi is now responsible for the full $1,000 rent payment each month. It seemed that McNair had forced her to pay monthly payments for the Cadillac, and she had neglected to sell her other vehicle. With her family residing far away in Florida, Kazemi felt overburdened by her mountain of bills.
According to investigators, Kazemi also witnessed a different woman leave McNair’s house. According to the police, she followed the other woman in an attempt to find out who she was, but she never went up against her. Kazemi was taken into custody for drunk driving early on Thursday morning. Not charged, McNair sat by her side in the Cadillac.
A few hours after McNair freed her from prison, Kazemi’s rage and jealousy got the better of her. In a hurried transaction in the restaurant parking lot, she paid $100 for a 9mm pistol.
The night before the murder, she allegedly told a friend, “My life is a ball of shit, and I should just end it.”
Around ten o’clock on Friday night, Kazemi drove to McNair’s condominium to wait for him to return. After spending the night out, McNair arrived between 1.30 and 2am. He said hello to Kazemi, took a nap on the couch, and never got up.
The revision date of this article is July 10, 2009. Steve McNair’s age was listed in the original as 30. This has been updated.
