PITTSBURGH -- One week after being shot on campus, Duquesne University basketball player Sam Ashaolu remains in Mercy Hospital with bullet fragments in his head.

In an e-mail to Channel 4 Action News, Ashaolu's brother, John, said Sam is in serious condition after being upgraded from critical.

Nurses put Sam Ashaolu in a chair on Sunday, John Ashaolu said. He tried to get up, and the nurses helped him walk a few a steps.

Some friends from Toronto visited the hospital on Saturday morning. Sam tried to form words but was unable to speak, although he did shake their hands, John said.

The Ashaolu family has started a "Get Well Sam" Web site at sam-ashaolu.com. Visitors to the site can read updates from the family and send an e-mail or post a note on the message board.

Donations to the Get Well Sam Fund are being accepted at the Web site, or by money transfer at the following address:

National Bank of Canada
58 Quarry Edge Drive
Brampton, ON
L6V 4K2

If donating via money transfer, the following information is necessary:

Account Name: Sam Ashaolu
Account Number: 04241-00
Transit Number: 10481
Institution Number: 006

Including Ashaolu, five members of the Duquesne basketball team were shot after a dance at the student union on Sept. 17. The other four victims have been released from hospitals.

Two shooting suspects -- William Holmes and Brandon Baynes, both 18 and of Penn Hills -- are being held in the Allegheny County Jail awaiting preliminary hearings.

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