Marshawn Kneeland’s Girlfriend Breaks Her Silence After His Death: ‘Words Could Never Express How Broken I Feel’
Marshawn Kneeland’s girlfriend Catalina Mancera has broken her silence following the Dallas Cowboys player’s death at age 24.
In a post on Facebook on Monday, Nov. 10, Mancera shared a photo of herself and Kneeland, who died on Nov. 6 from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
She wrote, “my sweet baby, words could never express how broken I feel, you’re my everything. I’ll love you forever my beautiful angel,” adding a white heart emoji.
Mancera’s friends and family shared messages of support in the comments. One friend wrote, “love you cat. he is always with you. praying for you and thinking of you so much. and for his family and your family.”
Another said, “Marshawn will always be with you. You could see the love you shared so deeply!”
Kneeland died just two days after he scored his first NFL touchdown.
In the hours before his death, Mancera attempted to save Kneeland by alerting police of her concerns that he’d take his own life and that was armed with a gun. Police audio obtained by PEOPLE included a dispatcher saying, “We’re talking to the girlfriend. She’s trying to call his agent, but we’re trying to get her to call him first, but she’s saying he is armed and has a history of mental illness and her quote was, ‘He will end it all.’ ”
A dispatcher could also be heard on the audio saying that Kneeland’s family “received a text from him, a group text from him, saying goodbye. They’re concerned for his welfare.”
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The same concern was reiterated at another point in the audio when a lieutenant from the Plano Police Department called in “advising that the NFL is calling” and “the subject is texting his family goodbye.”
Authorities said the athlete’s body was found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot near his vehicle in Frisco at 1:31 a.m. on Nov. 6, three hours after he was involved in a police chase.
On Nov. 10, the Cowboys held an “extremely emotional” meeting, the first in-person gathering of the team since Kneeland’s death. “We needed a day just to be human and to cry and to let everyone know how we felt,” said Solomon Thomas after the meeting. “Extremely draining and hard day, hard for everyone involved, hard for everyone who loved Marshawn.”
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