Kentucky coach sends ‘thoughts and prayers’ to fan injured in Vista shooting
Following his team’s victory in Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday, the first thing on University of Kentucky coach Mark Stoops’s mind was not the Wildcats’ 23-13 win over the Gamecocks.
Instead, Stoops opened his post-game press conference with a shout-out to Denise Massey, the Kentucky fan shot and injured outside a nightclub in Columbia’s Vista area early Saturday morning.
“I’d like to say our thoughts and prayers are with our fan who was injured last night,” Stoops said. “It’s an exciting win and I just want to acknowledge her and let the (Big Blue nation) say prayers for her.”
According to her boyfriend Jimmy Brannon, who was with her when she was injured in the shooting, Massey is in “critical, but presumably stable,” condition. She suffered a “pinching” of the carotid artery which caused a blood clot, according to Brannon, adding doctors are trying to dissolve the clot with blood thinners.
Brannon added that Massey needs surgery to repair the injury she suffered to her right jaw. That could take place on Tuesday, and if that goes well, she could be transported to a Lexington, Ky., trauma center, possibly by the end of the week.
Stoops’s comments were reported by the Lexington Herald-Leader, The State’s sister paper.
Massey traveled to Columbia with Brannon for Saturday’s football game, and were enjoying a night in the Vista before the game. At about 2 a.m., Massey was shot along with seven other people in a crime for which four men have been arrested.
Staff writer Noah Feit contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 17, 2017 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Kentucky coach sends ‘thoughts and prayers’ to fan injured in Vista shooting."