Virginia State Senator Creigh Deeds was released from the hospital Friday, three days after his son Arthur stabbed him multiple times before committing suicide.

The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that Deeds was released from the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia on Friday morning. Deeds was airlifted to the hospital on Tuesday, after he was stabbed in the face and chest repeatedly by his son Arthurs Deeds, also known as Gus. Arthur was later found dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the house’s bathroom.

Soon after his release, Deeds tweeted a message to his constituents, letting them know he had been released from the hospital and asking for their prayers and support.

"I am alive so must live. Some wounds won't heal. Your prayers and your friendship are important to me,” Deeds wrote.

Deeds, the 2009 Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, was reportedly very close to his son Arthur before the altercation. Arthur, 24, had undergone a mental health evaluation the night before the altercation and was placed under an emergency custody order. He was later released and returned home after mental health workers reportedly could not find a spare psychiatric bed. The Washington Post disputes these claims, saying that there were in fact several beds available.

Arthur had been a part-time music student at the College of William and Mary since 2007, but he withdrew from his courses sometime in October.

“He seemed to be really happy in the music department and that’s the only side of him I ever saw,” Brian Hulse, an associate professor of music theory and composition at the college, told the Associated Press.

“He was extremely unique in the most positive sense,” Hulse added.

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