Former NFL linebacker Junior Seau dead at 43

Junior Seau, a well-known retired NFL player who spent much of his career on the San Diego Chargers, was found dead today at his Oceanside, California home. Seau’s girlfriend, whose name is not currently being released, is the one who discovered Seau with a gunshot wound to the chest. A handgun was found lying nearby.

Authorities are currently treating Seau’s death as a suicide.

Seau– whose full name was Tiaina Baul Seau, Jr.– retired from football in January. In October 2010, he had a run-in with the law after driving his SUV off a cliff near Carlsbad, California. The same day, he had been investigated for a domestic violence charge against his 25-year-old live-in girlfriend, Mary Nolan (no word if this is the same woman who found him today).

Seau’s mother spoke to reporters outside of the Oceanside home today, saying, “I pray to God, ‘Take me, take me, leave my son,’ but it’s too late.”

Strangely, Junior Seau is the eighth player from the 1994 San Diego Chargers team to die at a young age. Others include linebacker Dave Griffs, who died in a 1995 car crash, and linebacker Doug Miller, who was struck by lightning in 1998. Most recently defensive tackle Shawn Lee died of cardiac arrest in 2010.

Fans flooded social media today with expressions of dismay and regret at Seau’s untimely passing. His long career, including 12 trips to the Pro Bowl, means he will not soon be forgotten in the football world.

Junior Seau was 43 and is survived by three children from his 11-year marriage to Gina Deboer, his ex-wife.