Colts Safety Rodney McLeod Jr. Honors University Of Virginia Shooting Victims With Cleats, Prayers And Action To Combat Gun Violence

McLeod and his wife, Erika’s, foundation, Change Our Future, has already done work to combat gun violence in Philadelphia, where McLeod played for the Eagles from 2016-2021. But the shooting at his alma mater spurred McLeod and his wife to start thinking about other ways they could make an impact to lessen gun violence in the United States, and their intent is that McLeod’s gestures and support on Sunday turns into action in the future.

“One thing that really stands out is gun violence, it’s something that’s plaguing a lot of communities, taking a lot of lives, especially younger generations,” McLeod said. “It’s something our foundation has recognized is a huge issue in Philadelphia, but now this problem is something that we’re dealing with as a country. You see it on campus and what happened recently at UVA.

“It’s something that we really have to pay attention to, bring awareness to and figure out how do we take action. Not only us, but within our policies, our laws to help eliminate these sorts of acts from happening.”

McLeod also emphasized the need for others to recognize warning signs that may be precursors to gun violence, especially as those who knew Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., the suspected gunman in the University of Virginia attacks, try to figure out what they may have missed in his behavior.

“I think we have to focus on how do we end gun violence,” McLeod said, “but also mental health for the gentleman who decided to act in violence, what happened? Were there signs leading up to that that could’ve prevented this from even happening? We have to make sure we check up on our people and don’t turn our heads to the signs, don’t ignore the signs.”

McLeod had a fantastic game Sunday, notching six tackles with one tackle for a loss and one pass break-up in the Colts’ 17-16 loss to the Eagles. His teammates could tell how much the game meant to him not just because it was against his former team, but because he wanted to honor Davis, Chandler and Perry through…