Sunday PM Update: McNair Murdered

((HT: Tennessean/Jennifer Brooks))

Former Titans quarterback Steve McNair was murdered, but police have not yet determined whether the woman found dead with him was a victim of homicide or suicide.

A Sunday morning autopsy revealed that McNair was shot four times – twice in the head, twice in the chest. His girlfriend, 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi, died of a gunshot wound to the side of the head. A semi-automatic pistol was found on the floor under her body.

But it will take many days of interviews with their families and friends and witnesses who saw McNair out on the town Friday night before police will rule whether the deaths were a murder-suicide or a double homicide.

“While it is clear McNair’s death is a homicide, the police department is not classifying Kazemi’s death, pending further investigation and interviews with persons who knew her and McNair,” police spokesman Don Aaron said at press conference this afternoon.

“We can’t be close-minded,” Aaron said. “All scenarios are on the table.”

The autopsy showed the two had died in the early hours of Saturday morning, hours before their bodies were discovered by a friend of McNair’s who had a key to the Second Avenue condominium.

Police are still waiting for the results of ballistics tests that could indicate whether Kazemi’s wound was self-inflicted. Toxicology tests will take weeks.

Rumors are swirling wildly around the deaths and Aaron attempted to answer, or shoot down, the most common. The initial autopsy did not indicate that Kazemi was pregnant. Both victims were found fully clothed. It is not yet known who owns the pistol that was found at the scene. Steve McNair is listed in a state database as having a permit to carry a handgun.

Kazemi, who was pulled over and charged with drunk driving while McNair was in the passenger seat of the Escalade they co-owned, has no other criminal record in Davidson County, Aaron said. Police are conducting interviews with their friends, hoping to piece together their relationship.

“We’ve already begun talking to their friends to ascertain any squabbles they were having, were they upset with each other and if so, why,” Aaron said.

McNair was the 36th homicide victim in Nashville this year. That’s down from 41 victims at this time last year.