deshawn perry was one of three university of virginia football players, gunned down four weeks ago.bus, as they arrived back on campus. >> for me, it's just -- >> reporter: his mother speaking publicly for the first time with nbc news. >> i'm broken. >> reporter: she had been on the phone just moments before the shooting. >> his cell phone had gone dead. >> reporter: twitter than lit up. active shooter at uva. what was that waiting period like? >> dreadful. >> reporter: hours of waiting and then at 2:30 a.m., campus police rang their home. >> everything just stopped, for me. and just to hear the cry, this wasn't the same cry. losing a child. >> reporter: the alleged gunman a student and former uva football player. so far, police have no motive. your son was aware of violence. >> yes. >> reporter: he wrote, with all of the shootings and police violence on minorities, you have to have a sense of light inside of you. >> that's who he was. that's who he is. everywhere he went, he wanted to leave a little bit of his light. >> reporter: one semester shy of graduation and now another famil

the loss of deshawn perry and level davis jr.dealing with both physical and emotional pain. >> i lost a brother that day. i loved lavel, with all of my heart, loved devin with all of my heart. be deshaun, it was different with him. it was -- man, that was my brother. >> well deshaun perry's parents spoke this morning. about just the devastating loss of their son. here is cnn's leyla santiago. >> erica and jim, the parents of deshaun perry are calling for an end to gun violence, shotgun violence that claimed the life of their son last month. he's one of the three football players who died after a gunman shot them and injured two others while returning from a class trip back to the campus. perry is described as the fend that always lifted you, that had that amazing smile, the teammate who was hard-working. here is how his mom described him. >> that is who he was. that is who he is. everywhere he went, he wanted to leave a little bit of his life. >> everything just stopped. for me. and just to hear her cry, it was just another cry,