Three players from the Virginia Cavaliers football team were killed during a shooting on campus late Sunday night, according to ESPN. A former player is suspected of killing the three players as well as wounding two other students. He was taken into custody after a manhunt in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to police.
The three football players were identified as junior wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr. of Dorchester, South Carolina; junior wide receiver Devin Chandler of Huntersville, North Carolina; and junior defensive end/linebacker D’Sean Perry of Miami, University of Virginia president Jim Ryan said in a news conference on Monday. The suspect was identified as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. and was listed as a freshman running back on the team’s 2018 roster.
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Ryan said the shooting occurred on a chartered bus after the students were returning from a field trip. “Let me say how deeply sorry I am for the victims and for their families and friends,” Ryan said. According to police, Jones was arrested and charged with three counts of second-degree murder.
“I am devastated that this violence has visited the University of Virginia, Ryan wrote in a letter to the students. This is a traumatic incident for everyone in the community, and we have canceled classes for today (Monday, Nov. 14). At this point only designated essential employees should report to work on Monday (all remote employees should continue to work remotely). …I am holding the victims, their families and all members of the University of Virginia community in my heart today, and we will make places to come together as a community to grieve as soon as the suspect is apprehended.”
Davis caught 16 passes for 371 yards this season. Perry had five tackles in three games this year, including two in Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh. Chandler has not appeared in a game this season but caught two passes for 28 yards as a freshman in 2020. Virginia has a 3-7 record this year as is scheduled to host Coastal Carolina on Saturday. No status on the game has been announced as of this writing, but the men’s basketball game against Northern Iowa scheduled for Monday has been canceled.
“This is an unimaginably sad day for our community,” Ryan said during the news conference. “The entire university community is grieving this morning. My heart is broken for the victims and their families and for all those who knew and loved them, and they are all in my prayers. As I’ve said before when I see our students, I see my own kids, and I cannot imagine anything worse for a parent than losing a child.”
