PITTSBURGH (AP) -Stuard Baldonado, one of five Duquesne University basketball players wounded in an on-campus shooting Sept. 17, was suspended indefinitely from the team Tuesday.
Coach Ron Everhart issued a news release saying the university had suspended Baldonado, citing an apparent violation of the university’s code of student rights, responsibilities and conduct. Everhart did not say specifically what prompted the suspension.
“Our basketball players are held to the same standard of accountability as the general student population,” Everhart wrote. “We fully expect them to adhere to university policies and procedures at all times.”
The 6-foot-7 Baldonado was shot in arm in the Sept. 17 attack. The bullet severed an artery in his left elbow and then traveled through his back and just missed his spine.
Baldonado, a native of Colombia, was Duquesne’s top recruit a year ago but sat out the season after being shot. He was a junior transfer from Miami-Dade Community College in Florida.
He told The Associated Press in an interview last month he felt lucky to be alive. After the shooting, a teammate applied a tourniquet to his badly bleeding arm while another drove him to a nearby hospital.
Baldonado could have bled to death without immediate help.
“I’m still out there hitting, banging around, so I feel like I’m still there. I still got that toughness in me,” he said. “I’ve been doing good, so I know I’ve recovered a lot. I’m out of shape a little bit, but I know by the time the season starts that coach Everhart will have me in pretty good shape.”
In April, Baldonado filed a lawsuit alleging the university failed to provide proper security at the school party that preceded the shootings. The two men accused of shooting at the players were not Duquesne students.
The suit also alleges the shootings caused severe and permanent injuries that will affect Baldonado’s ability to make a living as a pro basketball player, either in the NBA or overseas.
Baldonado is not seeking specific damages from the university. Neither of the suspects in the shooting was named as a defendant.
Over the Labor Day weekend, the Dukes played four games in Toronto, but Baldonado was unable to accompany the team because of an apparent passport problem that prevented him from traveling to Canada.
The university did not immediately return a call Tuesday night seeking further comment on Baldonado’s suspension.
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