Records: WMU police did 2 welfare checks on Marshawn Kneeland

Western Michigan University police were twice called to perform welfare checks on former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland while he played for the school, including by coaches who worried about him possessing a gun, according to records obtained by ESPN.

Kneeland, 24, died Nov. 6 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in Frisco, Texas. The documents obtained by ESPN via an open-records request show that there were concerns about his mental health as early as 2020.

One incident, in June 2023, came 10 months before Dallas picked him in the second round of the NFL draft. Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor and then-defensive coordinator Lou Esposito called police with a "concern that [Kneeland] recently separated from his girlfriend" and that they "wanted to make sure he was mentally fit to possess a firearm," according to a campus police report.

"After speaking with Kneeland, he voluntarily turned the firearm into WMUPD for safekeeping until cleared by a counselor," the officer wrote.

Twelve days later, Kneeland retrieved his gun from police after obtaining a letter from a social worker at the Western Michigan Sindecuse Health Center stating that Kneeland was examined and determined not to be a threat to himself or others, according to the report.

Taylor and Esposito did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Friday. A spokesperson for the Western Michigan athletic department declined to comment. The counselor named in the report did not respond to messages from ESPN.

In another incident in September 2020, an unnamed friend of Kneeland's called 911 to express concern for his well-being, and police found Kneeland near train tracks in Kalamazoo.

"Kneeland told me he was sitting across the tracks in hopes a train would run him over to end his life," the responding officer wrote in a report. "Kneeland told me life overall and the lack of playing football at WMU had him feeling down. He told me he had been feeling like this for a while. When asked to clarify how long he felt that way, he did not answer. Kneeland said he does not see a therapist or take any medication for his mental health crisis."

The report states that Kneeland did not want to seek medical help but that Kent County sheriff's deputies who responded to the scene sent Kneeland to Borgess Hospital (now Beacon Kalamazoo). The report does not state when or why Kneeland was released from the hospital.

A Cowboys spokesperson declined to answer questions Friday about whether the team had been aware of Kneeland's previous incidents.

Kneeland's cousin Nicole Kneeland-Woods, a family spokesperson, told ESPN that she had no knowledge of those incidents. "None at all," she said.

On Thursday, Kneeland's family held a private memorial service in Wyoming, Michigan. Kneeland-Woods said it was invitation-only, with family, close friends and some of his coaches.

"Right now for us, it's just trying to move forward," she said. "Now we can really start the healing process."

Texas police found Kneeland's body in the early morning of Nov. 6 after he had evaded officers during a traffic pursuit, crashed his car and fled on foot. Police have not said what prompted the pursuit. While officers searched for Kneeland, they said they received information that he had expressed "suicidal ideations."