NFL QB Erik Kramer Found with Gunshot Wound in Valley Motel

By DENNIS ROBAUGH (Patch National Staff) and City News Service

A man who suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound in a possible suicide attempt at a Calabasas motel is former NFL quarterback Erik Kramer, a broadcast outlet reported today.

Deputies were sent about 8 p.m. Tuesday to the motel in the 26500 block of Agoura Road to check a man’s welfare and found the victim, who was airlifted to a hospital, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

He was identified in an NBC News report as Kramer, 50, who led the Detroit Lions to the 1991 NFC championship game before going on to play with the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers.

Kramer’s 18-year-old son Griffen, a quarterback at Thousand Oaks High School, died of a heroin overdose in 2011. A friend left him alone to go to a party after he had passed out while on drugs. He died on Oct. 31, 2011.

Erik Kramer attended John Burroughs High School in Burbank and played football at Pierce College before transferring to North Carolina State University.

Kramer played quarterback for the Chicago Bears for five seasons, from 1994 to 1998. He played one year for the San Diego Chargers before retiring. He began his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons, and played for the Detroit Lions from 1991 to 1993, leading the team to the NFC Championship game in 1991.

Reports NBC Sports:

His former wife believes Kramer is suffering from depression in part as a result of head injuries suffered during his football career.

“He is a very amazing man, a beautiful soul, but he has suffered depression since he was with the Bears,” Marshawn Kramer told NBC News. “I can promise you he is not the same man I married.”