AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher took his own life outside the team's training facility on Saturday in an apparent murder-suicide.

Kansas City police launched an immediate investigation into the double killings after Belcher's girlfriend was earlier shot dead at a nearby home.

Minutes after the first fatal shooting, police were called to the Chiefs' practice facility, where Belcher (25) turned the gun on himself.

Police spokesman Darin said Belcher killed himself in front of several Chiefs staff, including the head coach and the general manager.

Mr Snapp said police had minutes earlier been called to a nearby house after reports that a woman had been shot multiple times by her boyfriend. Kassandra Perkins (22) was later pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. She was Belcher's girlfriend and they had a three-month-old daughter. - (Reuters)