‘Wonderful, magnetic people’: UVA remembers 3 football players killed shooting

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WWBT) - The University of Virginia is in mourning after a shooting on the grounds left three people dead and two others hurt Sunday night.

The shooting happened around 10:30 p.m. Sunday on Culbreth Road at a parking garage behind the Drama building.

During a press conference on Monday, UVA’s president James Ryan confirmed the victims of the shooting were members of the football team.

• D’Sean Perry, Junior, Linebacker, Miami, Florida
• Lavel “Tyler” Davis Jr., Junior, Wide Receiver, Dorchester, S.C.
• Devin Chandler, Junior, Wide Reciever, Huntersville, N.C.

“I don’t even know what to say right now,” said Aaron Faumui, a UVA football player. “It’s just heartbreaking to see three young boys..had a whole future ahead of them. Just to see them gone is just heartbreaking.”

D’Sean Perry was a junior linebacker from Miami, Florida. His teammates describe him on social media as a gentle giant—the embodiment of resilience and perseverance.

Lavel “Tyler” Davis, also a junior, was a star wide receiver from Ridgeville, South Carolina. He is described as someone who fiercely loved his family and friends. His passion for football ran deep, with many saying he had a shot at going to the NFL draft following this season.

Devin Chandler is also a junior wide receiver. He transferred to UVA from the University of Wisconsin last year. Friends today say they can’t believe someone so full of life is gone that he was an unbelievably nice person who always had a massive smile on his face.

Dr. Jack Hamilton, a UVA professor, taught Chandler and Davis.

“They had such a bright future ahead of them, and they were such these wonderful magnetic people,” said Hamilton. “Emailing this class that Lavel is in was the hardest email, the saddest email I’ve ever had to write in my time as a professor. I mean, there’s just like, you, there’s no roadmap for it.”

UVA has confirmed the suspect, 22-year-old Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., is a student at the university.

Jones was listed as a member of the UVA football team in 2018. Before attending UVA, Jones graduated from Petersburg High School and previously attended Varina High School.

“This is a sad, shocking, and tragic day for our UVA community,” UVA president James Ryan said.

WAFB reports that one of the two injured football players is Mike Hollins from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is a wide receiver for the football team.

According to Hollins’ former coach, Hollins underwent surgery and is now recovering.

During the press conference, UVA police announced Jones was taken into custody.

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