Colleges

Players recount terrifying shooting

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 19, 2006

PITTSBURGH - As basketball players Aaron Jackson and Stephen Wood lay helpless in front of a Duquesne University dormitory, bullet after bullet flew by them - and the same thought crossed each of their minds.

"It seemed like the bullets never stopped coming," Jackson said Monday, absent-mindedly rubbing the left wrist that was grazed by one of the bullets.

"They kept coming, constantly," Wood said.

Five Duquesne players were struck by those bullets early Sunday by an unidentified shooter or shooters that injured nearly half of the team's scholarship athletes - a blow unparalleled in any NCAA Division I basketball program.

On Monday, three players remained hospitalized. Junior-college transfer forward Sam Ashaolu, 23, of Toronto, a cousin of former Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon, was in critical condition after a bullet shattered into three sections of his head.

Stuard Baldonado, 21, a forward and another junior-college transfer, of Colombia, was upgraded to fair condition with left arm and back injuries.

Junior guard Kojo Mensah, 21, of New York City, who was shot in the arm and shoulder, was kept in the hospital for another night to receive injections of antibiotics.

Jackson, 20, of Hartford, Conn., and Shawn James, 23, of New York City were released after receiving treatment.

Several players told the Associated Press on Monday that the shootings apparently resulted from an act of jealousy by a nonstudent unhappy that the girlfriend he accompanied to a dance, sponsored by the Black Student Union, talked with a player or players for the Dukes.

"We didn't have any conflict at all," said Wood, a freshman who left New York City to play at Duquesne partly to live on what traditionally is considered a safe campus. "We were just having a good time. There was jealousy because girls were showing us attention."

The players were followed by the disgruntled nonstudent and at least one of his acquaintances when they left the dance, they said, and the shootings happened as the players walked together toward the dormitory. Mensah, Ashaolu and Baldonado were the first to be hit. James was wounded in the foot but escaped.

Wood, who was not struck, said he saw Baldonado bleeding from his left arm and quickly took off his own shirt and applied a tourniquet.

"I turned away and saw Stu on the floor, and my first reaction was to take my shirt off and try to stop the bleeding," Wood said. "Then I turned around, and I saw Sam laying there."

Mensah, struck himself, aided several players by helping to barricade them behind a steel door. Jackson lifted the 250-pound Baldonado on his back, carried him to his car and drove him to nearby Mercy Hospital.

Baldonado is expected to be released from Mercy Hospital this week. The bullet lodged in his lower back muscle is expected to be surgically removed today.

Coach Ron Everhart was trying not to think about how the shootings would affect his program, saying "our biggest concern is for the players and their families." But athletic director Greg Amodio was optimistic the incident would not hurt the program's image or recruiting.

Football

PAC-10 OFFICIALS SUSPENDED: The conference, finding merit in Oklahoma's complaints about the officiating in its 34-33 loss to Oregon, issued a one-game suspension to the officiating crew and the instant replay officials who worked the game and an apology to the Sooners.

TENNESSEE: Defensive tackle Justin Harrell had surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his left biceps. Harrell, a senior, postponed the operation so he could play a final game Saturday against Florida.

MEMPHIS: Coach Tommy West fired defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn, who had been defensive coordinator since spring 2003. The Tigers (1-2) are ranked 65th in total defense.

[Last modified September 19, 2006, 01:43:11]