'Worst nightmare': FSU, FAMU presidents, student-athletes respond to UVA shooting

Tarah Jean, Tallahassee Democrat
·3 min read

As the University of Virginia shooting leaves many in the college community heartbroken, it weighs on members of Florida State and Florida A&M universities as well — including 21-year old FSU student-athlete Taylor Holmes.

The mass shooting has been on Holmes’s mind after hearing that three UVA football team players were killed and two other people were injured.

“Ever since I heard it, it’s been so heavy on my heart, especially as a Black student athlete at a PWI (predominantly white institution) and especially seeing how we’re all around the same age, doing the same things,” said Holmes, a cheerleader and sociology major from Tifton, Georgia.

More on the UVA shooting: 

FSU student athlete Taylor Holmes is a cheerleader at the university and is also the vice president for the Black Student Athlete Association on campus.
FSU student athlete Taylor Holmes is a cheerleader at the university and is also the vice president for the Black Student Athlete Association on campus.

Holmes also serves as the vice president of FSU’s Black Student Athlete Association.

“It’s unfair to them as individuals first, it’s unfair to them as student-athletes and it’s unfair to their parents who sent their babies off with the expectations of them being protected,” she added.

The victims of the shooting — Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D'Sean Perry, a Miami native — were all juniors. UVA student and former football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. is in custody as a suspect in the shooting.

The shooting led to a campus-wide lockdown being placed on the university, which was lifted on Monday followed by the gathering of students, faculty and members of the community in remembrance of the students who were killed.

Both FAMU President Larry Robinson and FSU President Richard McCullough responded Monday to the violent incident.

“A president’s, coach’s or parent's worst nightmare is to wake up to the news of what happened at the University of Virginia,” Robinson said in a prepared statement. “I am saddened by these events and the occurrence of gun violence in our country in general. We are a better nation than this and it’s time for us to embrace and demonstrate greater appreciation for the lives of others.”

Larry Robinson is the president of Florid A&M University.
Larry Robinson is the president of Florid A&M University.

Robinson added that Virginia Cavaliers Coach Tony Elliott was a former teammate of FAMU Head Football Coach Willie Simmons as he expressed his condolences to him along with UVA President James Ryan.

McCullough released a statement about the shooting on Twitter a few hours earlier than Robinson’s message Monday to show his support for UVA.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to the (University of Virginia) community,” McCullough wrote in a tweet. “The entire FSU family stands in solidarity and grieves with you during this tragic and difficult time.”

FSU College of Communication and Information Professor Mark Zeigler, who commented under McCullough’s post, shared a tweet of his own that stated “I can’t do a darn thing about this awful UVA situation. But I can reach out to my colleagues and friends in Cavalier family. I’ve done that. I am sad. I am sick.”

The agonizing incident at UVA is not the only college-related mass violence that took place recently, as a homicide investigation is underway after four University of Idaho students were found dead near the college’s campus Sunday.

FSU student-athlete Des Lewis, who is a swimmer from Grand Terrace, California, hopes people will work toward a future free of gun violence and the unnecessary loss of young lives.

FSU student athlete Des Lewis is a 19-year-old swimmer who is also the public relations chair for the Black Student Athlete Association on campus.
FSU student athlete Des Lewis is a 19-year-old swimmer who is also the public relations chair for the Black Student Athlete Association on campus.

“I was very distressed to hear about the murder of these athletes,” said Lewis, 19, referring to the UVA shooting. The sophomore is also the public relations chair for the Black Student Athlete Association at FSU.

“On the long list of priorities and pressures of a student athlete,” Lewis added, “wondering whether or not you will be fatally shot should not be one of them.”

Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.  

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: UVA shooting a 'worst nightmare,' says FAMU, FSU community members