McNair-Kazemi ruled murder suicide

Nashville Chief of Police Ronal Serpas (spelling is correct) announced today that Steve McNair's 20-year-old mistress, Saleh Kazemi, was likely "spinning out of control" in the few days before she killed McNair on July 4, then killed herself. Saleh had also told friends that her "life was over" and she "was going to end it all."

Stressers in her life, said Serpas, were:

• Within the last week of her life she became convinced that McNair was seeing yet another woman and that she would soon be dropped from his life. Serpas said she told friends she had seen McNair leaving the condo with another woman a few days before the killings and attempted to follow them. But police are not confirming that McNair was actually involved with anyone else. [Saleh's family members told reporters since Saturday that Saleh was convinced that McNair was divorcing his wife to spend the rest of his life with her, so much in fact that she was considering selling her furniture so she could move in with him.]


• Her roommate had just moved out from their shared apartment, leaving her to pay the full rent and utilities by herself. She was already overloaded with other debt. Saleh told a co-worker Friday night that she was "thinking of ending it."

Saleh bought an "off brand" 9mm automatic pistol for $100 in the parking lot of Nashville's Opry Mills mall about 5 p.m. Thursday in the middle of her work shift at a restaurant there, Dave & Busters. She already knew the person selling the gun, having already bought a vehicle from him before. She asked him if he knew how she could get a gun. He said he had one to sell her, so they completed the transaction.

Serpas said that McNair was likely asleep on the sofa in Wayne Neely's condo apartment early Saturday morning when Saleh shot him through the right left temple (see below). She then shot him him twice in the chest, then once in the right temple, that shot with the gun almost touching him.

Saleh then sat on the sofa beside McNair and shot herself through the right temple, falling onto McNair's lap and then rolling onto the floor at his feet. Serpas said there is no question that she shot herself. No gunshot residue was found on McNair's hands. Trace residue was found on Saleh's left hand. Her right hand was covered with too much blood to conduct a valid residue test.

No evidence of drugs or paraphernalia was found at the scene. No one living nearby heard the shots, estimated to have been fired between 1-1:45 a.m. The next door neighbor was away and did not return until 6:30 a.m. and said he did not hear anything after he got home.

Ballistics testing proved that all five shots at the scene were fired from the gun that police found at the scene, both all five expended bullets and fired casing matching the pistol.

There was no bruising on Saleh's body nor any other sign of a struggle between them. There is no evidence that anyone else was involved in the deaths, including review of security camera records near the condo complex. There is no evidence that the scene was tampered with or altered before the police arrived.

Update: Video of the news conference is now online, 16:36 long. Note that Serpas contradicts himself in the sequencing of how Kazemi shot McNair. He says at 1:45 that she shot him first in the right temple, then at 14:48 he says the first shot was "from left to right."

Update: NPD's press release accompanying the news conference is here. It says the shot to McNair's left temple was first.

Previous posts:

NFL quarterback Steve McNair shot to death
McNair-Kazemi deaths not yet ruled murder suicide
Hey, buddy, can you spare $3,000,000?
Police: Kazemi bought pistol
McNair-Kazemi - nagging questions
Was McNair's murder an honor killing?