Police: Post-football woes factor in Paul Oliver's death

Lindsay H. Jones and Ray Glier | USA TODAY Sports

KENNESAW, Ga. – Paul Oliver showed up for a Labor Day family cookout with bags full of groceries. Burgers. Ribs. Chicken. Enough food for at least 20 of Oliver's family and friends.

"Paul was a giver," said David Scandrett, Oliver's uncle. "He helped his mom with his NFL money. He helped his whole family."

Oliver, a defensive back who last played in 2011 with the San Diego Chargers, had been bugging his uncle and other family members to throw the cookout, Scandrett said. They feasted and played cards, and Oliver took one of his sons into the cul de sac to play with a big red rubber ball.

Oliver was among the first to leave, telling his uncle he had to go pick up a Chevy Tahoe he had just purchased for his wife.

"I didn't think that would be the last time I would ever see him," Scandrett said.

Three weeks later, Oliver was dead at age 29. The Cobb County medical examiner's office confirmed that Oliver died Sept. 24 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but has yet to release its official report.

According to a police report obtained Thursday by USA TODAY Sports, Oliver's wife, Chelsea, said she and her husband had been struggling with marital issues and that he had "started mentioning divorce." After his football career ended, the report said, Oliver had been "somewhat depressed over being released. ... He made statements in the past about wanting to end his life."

Chelsea Oliver said she and the couple's two sons, ages 2 and 11 months, witnessed the shooting, which occurred during an argument after her husband had been drinking alcohol, according to the report. She told police Paul Oliver ran upstairs to get a handgun, stood at the top of the staircase and fired a round into the ceiling. She said he removed the magazine from the gun and appeared to insert another one. He began walking down the stairs, put the gun to his head and fired again, the report said.

"She kept saying she could not believe he did this in front of his sons," the report said.

Paul Oliver's body was found at the bottom of the stairs, and the damage to the upstairs ceiling and wall along the stairwell were consistent with Chelsea Oliver's account, the report said.

But Scandrett says he does not believe Oliver intended to kill himself.

"True enough it was self-inflicted," said Scandrett, who said he arrived at Oliver's home about 30 minutes after the shooting. "I don't think he knew the gun. When you fire a round, the clip throws another round right into the chamber. When you take the clip out, you might think you are emptying the gun, but you're not. It was an automatic. He was trying to scare her." They were having an argument, but I'm not sure what it was about.

"Maybe depression set in, I don't know. He was playing ball, then he is like a stay-at-home mom," Scandrett said.

The police report said authorities recovered a Glock .40-caliber handgun with a magazine inserted that contained 12 rounds of ammunition. Another magazine was found containing 15 rounds.

Oliver's brothers and wife either declined comment or did not return messages.

Oliver recently had moved back to the Atlanta suburbs, near where he was raised. His friends and family acknowledged he was having a tough time adjusting to post-football life. He was unemployed, without a college degree, and the only identity he had known as an adult was as a football player – he starred for three years at the University of Georgia followed by five seasons with the Chargers.

"For Paul, he's 29, so over half his life his entire identity was wrapped around being a football player. 'That's what I do, that's who I am,' and he was told quickly and abruptly, 'You're not a football player anymore. You have no choice,'" said Brian Greene, a former teammate at Harrison High, said. "Then you throw in having a wife and two kids, and the financial pressure there. This equation for Paul specifically was an equation for disaster, and it ended in disaster. There are so many Paul's out there, I'm telling you, I know there is."

Another one of Oliver's friends, former Wake Forest linebacker Jon Abbate, recalled struggling after his football career was over after a few years in the UFL and two offseason stints with the Houston Texans. Abbate gave up his scholarship when he left school a year early and paid to finish his final year at Wake Forest.

Oliver's friends don't believe he had made an attempt to return to the University of Georgia, but nor do they feel enough was done to help him.

"There are so many people that say, 'We love this kid, he was one of our favorite players at Georgia,' but where the hell were you? Did anybody reach out to him?" Abbate said. "Did anyone in academic counseling say, 'Here's the path you can get on to earn your degree?' There's just no support system. At the same time, I didn't reach out to him. It's just frustrating."

Oliver is at least the seventh current or former NFL player to die from a self-inflicted gunshot wound since 2010, a group that includes several other players who were in their 20s, including former Denver Broncos wide receiver Kenny McKinley, who died in 2010 at age 23. McKinley and Oliver grew up in the same county north of Atlanta, and played against each other in high school and college.

A police investigation after McKinley's death revealed he was in major debt and was depressed after undergoing microfracture knee surgery that ended his season and may have threatened his career.

Oliver played five years in the NFL, always playing for the about the league minimum salary for his experience. His estimated career earnings were just over $2 million.

His uncle said "He is not broke. He was paying $1,800 a month rent for a place to live. A man who is broke does not do that. Money was not an excuse for this," Scandrett said.

While in the NFL, Oliver would have had access to player development programs that include financial management and mental health counseling. The league in recent years have increased its focus on mental health assistance for players and their families, and all rookies have mandatory life skills seminars throughout their first season in the NFL.

"With all of our programs, services and resources in place, I take it personally when one of our own comes to the point that he decides to take his life. I feel like I have failed because of all our efforts in this area," Troy Vincent, the NFL's vice president of player development, told USA TODAY Sports.

Scandrett said Thursday that the details in the Oliver police report will be "tough on the family."

"This Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde," he said. "I've never seen him mad like the report says. It's like two different people. He was a caring, loving father and then this person we didn't ever know."

Glier reported from Cobb County, Ga.