TAPPAHANNOCK, Va. — One day after watching Super Bowl LX at home with his family, Essex High School football star Xzayviia “Zay” Bundy was found dead in his family’s home.
Tappahannock Police Chief Col. Thomas Carter said the death investigation is ongoing and the Medical Examiner will officially determine the cause and manner of death. Carter said Bundy suffered a gunshot wound, and police are not seeking suspects at this time.
Bundy, 18, was in his final months at Essex High School, where he was a football standout and had recently committed to play college football at Shepherd University in West Virginia.
"He loved football. He didn't want to let his teammates down, nor his coaches or nobody. He said everybody was depending on him. He couldn't let them down," Zay's mother Amanda Johnson said.
She said her son seemed excited but nervous about playing college football.
“He came back [from his visit] and said, ‘Mama, I don’t want to go to college because I missed you so much.’ I was like, ‘Well, baby, you don’t have to go. I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do,’” Johnson said. “He texted the next day and said, ‘I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to go ahead and sign.’ And I said, ‘If that’s what you want to do, that’s what you want to do. And if I have to, I will move closer to you if that makes you feel better.’”
Johnson called her only son an “outstanding” human who loved ice cream, made people laugh and was “special” beyond the unique spelling of his name — Xzayviia.
“I didn’t want his name to be like everybody else’s,” Johnson said. “So I said, I like [Xavier] and my mama wanted to call him ‘X.’ So I said, I’m going to start it off with the X, but I’m gonna change it all up, and that’s how I spelled it.”
Johnson said the days following her son’s death have been difficult, but her family, Zay’s friends, and the extended Essex County and Tappahannock communities have lifted her from the darkness.
"I want to thank everybody for reaching out and showing all the love and absolutely loving my baby. It’s amazing how many people have reached out. It’s just amazing,” she said. “The community did a prayer for us. It lifted me. It really lifted me. It brightened my day. I actually think that’s what’s helping me to be standing here able to talk to you."
Zay's viewing will be Friday, February 20 from 1-7 p.m. at Washington Funeral Home, 1404 Tappahannock Blvd., Tappahannock. The funeral will be Saturday, February 21 at Noon in the Essex High School auditorium, 833 High School Circle, Tappahannock with interment in the Beulah Baptist Church cemetery, 2007 Latanes Mill Rd., Tappahannock.
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