It was the kiss of death. After pumping nine bullets into his girlfriend, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher kissed her lifeless forehead and said goodbye before heading off to kill himself. Minutes later, standing with a gun to his head at a team facility, Belcher confessed the murder to team General Manager Scott Pioli before pulling the trigger, the Kansas City Star reported Tuesday. "Guys, I have to do this," the four-year NFL veteran told Pioli and Coach Romeo Crennel. "I got to go. I can't be here." Kasandra Michelle Perkins (left) with Jovan Belcher. Photo taken December 23, 2011. via Facebook. The comments were first reported by the Kansas City Star. The former Long Island high school football star's mother watched his bizarre farewell with girlfriend Kasandra Perkins Saturday just seconds after she heard gunfire coming from the master bedroom of the Kansas City home. Belcher's mom Cheryl Shepherd, who was in the kitchen of the home, heard the couple arguing around 8 a.m., with Belcher telling Perkins, "You can't talk to me like that!" The next sound was gunfire as Belcher repeatedly shot the mother of their daughter. Shepherd stared at the carnage as the gridiron star apologized to the dead woman, kissed his soon-to-be orphaned 3-month-old daughter farewell and drove away in his Bentley. Cops believe he turned suicidal during the five-mile trip to the team's practice facility. "He probably realized he had done something and he couldn't go back," police Sgt. Richard Sharp told the Kansas City Star. "He cared about her. I don't think he could live with himself." In the parking lot at the practice facility, Belcher parked the Bentley, stepped outside with the gun pointed at his head and began speaking to Pioli. "I did it," he said, according to police. "I killed her." Belcher, an undrafted free agent who worked his way into the Chief's starting lineup, thanked Pioli

and asked if the GM and team chairman Clark Hunt would watch out for his child, Zoey. Both Pioli and Crennel tried to talk the suicidal player out of pulling the trigger. "I was trying to get him to understand that life's not over," Crennel told the Star. "He still has a chance, and let's get this worked out" But Belcher's mind was already made up. He knelt down behind a vehicle in the lot, made the sign of the cross and fired a single gunshot into his head as the helpless team executives watched in horror. Cops told the Star the team was aware of problems with the couple and had provided counseling, and Crennel said Monday Belcher was struggling with personal issues that everyone faces. "He had no major issues," the coach said. Shepherd had come to Kansas City from Long Island in part to help the new parents work through their relationship woes. The Saturday morning violence followed an argument that began around 1 a.m., when Perkins returned home from a night out at a Trey Songz concert - followed by drinks with friends. A friend said Belcher was irate over Perkins' late arrival home, and he apparently left the house in anger. Cops responding to a 911 call of a suspicious car found Belcher asleep inside his Bentley behind a girlfriend's apartment, police said. He claimed he fell asleep waiting for the woman to come home. Belcher called inside, and a woman came down to meet with him and police. Cops described Belcher as cooperative and able to drive during their brief encounter. The athlete returned to his Crysler Ave. home around 7 a.m., with the argument with Perkins resuming and escalating over the next hour. Cops recovered several legally owned guns from the Belcher residence, and were conducting ballistics tests on all the weapons - plus the one used in the suicide.