Marshawn Kneeland Texted His Family ‘Goodbye’ Before His Death, Police Dispatch Reveals

On Wednesday night, Marshawn Kneeland said goodbye to his family via text, according to police dispatch audio obtained by PEOPLE.

The Dallas Cowboys defensive end, who was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound near a vehicle he crashed following a police chase north of Dallas, contacted his loved ones in the moments before his death. 

“They just received a text from him, a group text from him saying goodbye,” authorities say on the dispatch recording. “They're concerned for his welfare.”

A dispatcher reported that Kneeland’s girlfriend, Catalina, told authorities that she was trying to get in touch with her boyfriend’s agent, Jonathan Perzley.

“She's trying to call his agent,” a dispatcher was heard saying, “So we're trying to get him to call 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.’ ”

As word filtered across multiple North Texas agencies that Kneeland, 24, was in distress, another dispatcher shared that a representative with the NFL had contacted the Plano Police Department.

“We have a lieutenant calling in from Plano advising that the NFL is calling Plano PD and the subject is texting his family goodbye,” the dispatcher said.

Kneeland's body was found in the immediate vicinity of his vehicle in Frisco at 1:31 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, three hours after he was involved in a police chase, authorities said.

The second-year player — who scored his first NFL touchdown earlier this week on Monday Night Football — was selected by the Cowboys in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

His mother, Wendy Kneeland, died unexpectedly just two months before on Feb. 18, 2024, and Marshawn wore her ashes in a necklace.

“It was definitely tough,” he told The Dallas Morning News in 2024 about her death from an undisclosed illness. “I just managed it. She helped me a lot in my younger years getting into football. I always had the dream. I always told her, ‘I’m going to the NFL’ and I made it.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.