Entire Virginia Team to Attend Funerals of Teammates Killed in Shooting
Editor’s Note: This story contains details of a mass tragedy and gun violence. If you or someone you know is a survivor of a mass tragedy or is coping and needs to speak with someone, please call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline.
The entire Virginia football team will travel in the coming days to attend the funerals of the three players that were killed in a shooting earlier this month.
According to ESPN’s Andrea Adelson, the team will begin in Miami on Saturday at the funeral service for D’Sean Perry. The group will then head to the memorial service for Devin Chandler on Sunday in Virginia Beach before attending the celebration of life service for Lavel Davis Jr. on Wednesday in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Virginia canceled its final regular season game against rival Virginia Tech on Saturday because players wanted to attend the funerals of their three teammates. The team previously canceled its home football game against Coastal Carolina originally scheduled for Nov. 19.
Perry, Chandler and Davis were shot and killed on Nov. 13 on a charter bus near a school parking garage after returning from seeing a play in Washington D.C. Running back Michael Hollins was hospitalized for a week and discharged on Monday. A fifth student, Marlee Morgan, was also wounded in the shooting, but has since been released from the hospital.
The suspect, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., was taken into custody on Nov. 14 in connection with the shooting and charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in commission of a felony, according to law enforcement. He is being held without bail in a Charlottesville jail.