Tennessee Titans receiver O.J. Murdock’s death appears suicide, sends wave of shock in NFL – NFL News
Tennessee Titans’ receiver O.J. Murdock’s death, which reportedly is a result of self-inflicted gunshot, has baffled the National Football League (NFL) to understand why the player took the extreme step of taking his own life when only a few days ago he
sounded to be upbeat about joining the team’s training camp.
The suicide has sent a wave of concern among the entire football community, which still seems to be very much confused about the choice of the player to go that far.
The Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis while confirming the demise of the player said they found the player in his car at 8:30 am with self-inflicted gunshot wounds. He was shifted to Tampa General Hospital where he died.
The police said the car was parked in front of the player’s Middleton High School. He was a very popular player at the school during the college league career.
According to reports, the last communication of the player was his text message to the receivers' coach at Fort Hays State Al McCray in the wee hours of morning, thanking the official for what he had done for the receiver and his family.
The player ended the message with an apology, reason of which was not understood by the coach. Unfortunately, McCray happened to see the text on his phone after he woke up late in the morning, when it was already too late for him to reply.
The coach said:
"The hardest part about this is I got a text at 3:30 in the morning, where he said: 'Coach, I want to thank you for everything you've done for me and my family. It's greatly appreciated. At the end, he goes: 'I apologize.' And I don't know what he's talking
about. I woke up, and I'm thinking he's apologizing because he texted me so early. ... I wish he had called instead."
Al McCray said he had talked to the player only a week ago and apparently did not feel he had been through any serious issue. According to him, Murdock sounded to be excited about the start of training camp, which he said was looking forward to participate
in.
He added:
"I spoke to him a week ago, and he was so excited about getting ready to go (to training camp)."
Interestingly, the player could not make it to the opening of the camp on the past weekend, and according to the team the absence was due to the player's personal issues. His last workout with the team was at the three-day mandatory minicamp in June this
year.
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