The University of Virginia has canceled its final home football game of the season after a campus shooting left three players dead and one injured.
Altogether, five students were either killed or injured in the attack, and the campus community continues to mourn.
The Cavaliers’ scheduled opponent, no. 23 Coastal Carolina, released a statement Wednesday expressing support for the game cancellation.
“As much as we love gameday and the spirit it brings, there is a time when the sanctity of life and sustaining of a community take precedence. This is one of those times,” said Matt Hogue, Coastal Carolina’s vice president for intercollegiate athletics, according to ESPN. “We fully support the decision and will continue offering our assistance and contribute however we can toward the healing of our friends and colleagues at UVA.”
Similar messages of support have been sent to the University of Virginia from across the sports world, as the Deseret News previously reported.
For example, Morgan Moses, a Virginia alum who now plays for the Baltimore Ravens, released a statement Wednesday offering love to the school and criticizing gun violence.
“My heart and condolences go out to the University of Virginia community and all the families who have been affected by Sunday night’s tragedy. What happened at my alma mater not only saddens me, but it once again reaffirms how much work must be done to rid our society of gun violence,” Moses said.
The shooting led to the deaths of Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler, all members of the University of Virginia football team.
Former player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. is the suspected shooter and was arrested Monday, ESPN reported, noting that “Jones faces three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of malicious wounding and additional gun-related charges.”
Jones was denied bond during a Wednesday court hearing, CNN reported. He’s being held in Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
The University of Virginia canceled a Monday night basketball game after the shooting and also canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday.
School officials have not yet decided if the football team will return to the field next week.
“A decision if Virginia will participate in its final game of the season, a Nov. 26 (Saturday) date against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, has not been made at this time,” the school’s Wednesday statement said.