Former pro football great and Oceanside sports legend Junior Seau has committed suicide, found by a housekeeper at his beachfront home with a gunshot wound to the chest, according to multiple sources.

Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood said he learned of the death from police Chief Frank McCoy.

Police responded to Seau’s home on The Strand on Wednesday after receiving a call about a reported suicide. The San Diego County medical examiner’s office said an investigator was sent to the scene.

Wood said Seau, 43, was beloved in the community and will be deeply missed.

“He was a local hero —- he certainly gave back to the community and to the youth through his Junior Seau Foundation,” Wood said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.”

The San Diego Charges released a statement saying they had not been informed of his death and that “we pray he’s OK.”

Named Tiana Baul “Junior” Seau when he was born in Jan. 19, 1969, Seau was drafted fifth overall by the San Diego Chargers in the 1990 draft.

He last played in the NFL as a member of the New England Patriots in 2009.

At Oceanside High School, he lettered in football, basketball and track and field. He earned recognition as a league MVP and was named by Parade Magazine to its high school All-American Team.

After three years at the University of Southern California, he joined the NFL.

He was named to the Pro Bowl 12 times and made the league’s list of All-Pro starts for 10 years.

In October 2010, problems in Seau’s personal life surfaced following a bizarre automobile accident.

On Oct. 18 of that year, he drove his SUV off an embankment in Carlsbad and was hospitalized with minor injuries.

A philanthropic hero and a legend in his hometown, Seau told police he fell asleep hours after he was arrested on a felony domestic violence allegation and released.

Seau’s white Cadillac Escalade veered off a straight stretch of the road about 8:40 a.m. near Carlsbad Boulevard and Solamar Drive and landed on the beach below.

Seau was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla for treatment of minor injuries, which police described as mostly cuts and bruises.

Police said there were no signs of drugs or alcohol at the crash site and that said Seau told investigators he didn’t intend to drive off the cliff and that he was tired after being up all night.

The lack of skid marks leading up to the point where Seau’s vehicle left the road support that statement, according to police.

Hours before driving off the cliff, Seau was arrested after police were called to his home to investigate a report of domestic violence.

Seau wasn’t home when police arrived, but his 25-year-old live-in girlfriend told officers that Seau assaulted her during an argument.

He was arrested and booked into the Vista jail on suspicion of spousal assault with injury. The case was later dropped.

Gina Seau, the former player’s ex-wife and mother of three of his children, said at the time that Seau had never tried to hurt or threaten her when they were married.

He’s been a familiar sight in Oceanside, often seen running on the beach or working out with high school football players near his $3.2 million, three-bedroom home on the city’s tony Strand.

In 1991, Seau created the Seau Foundation, an organization that raises money for drug awareness and educational opportunities for San Diego County youth.

Seau’s foundation has distributed more than $4 million over the last 10 years to various charities. Seau has said one of his goals through the organization is to help children in abusive situations and educate them on how to avoid drug use.

He was the CIF San Diego Section player of the year in boys basketball in 1987 and football defensive player of the year in 1986.

Seau was recently quoted in a North County Times column on the “bounty” scandal involving the New Orleans Saints and its practice of offering cash incentives to players who doled out vicious hits on their opponents.

“It’s sad that it was written into an incentive package to go into a game that we all love and turn it into that,” he said. “There is going to be a cloud over our game because of that. So there is a lot of pressure, obviously, on (NFL Commissioner Roger) Goodell and those in the NFL office to do something drastic, big, to send a message out there.

“This is a sport in which you inflict pain on your opponents, but it is not in the game to hurt them and have a bounty over a player. Then you have pushed it too far because you should never place a bounty on another human being.”

Source provided by nctimes.com – link to original post