University of Virginia awards posthumous degrees to football players killed in school shooting
The University of Virginia has awarded posthumous degrees to the three football players who were fatally gunned down during an on-campus shooting last month. According to ESPN on Tuesday (Dec. 6), the institution’s plans to honor the late athletes were announced via press release. As previously reported by REVOLT, 22-year-old Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was arrested in connection to the crime.
Jones was a student at the school and teammates with the slain athletes. Two other players were injured but survived the shooting. Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry were pronounced dead on Nov. 13. The following day, the suspect’s father told a local Virginia news station that his son claimed to have been picked on before the deadly incident. “When we finally had a chance to talk, he said there were some people there who were giving him a hard time, but he still was upbeat, and he was positive… Why did it have to get this far? He could’ve called me,” he shared.
Rachel Most, the school’s associate dean for undergraduate academic programs and dean of the school’s College of Arts and Sciences Department, advocated for the three football players to still receive their degrees. Carla Williams, the athletic director for the University of Virginia, gave the diplomas to the victims’ families after attending the funeral. “It was a great honor to be a part of presenting these diplomas to the families of Devin, Lavel and D’Sean,” she mentioned. Chandler majored in American studies; Davis majored in African American and African studies; Perry double majored in studio art and African American and African studies.
University of Virginia students Mike Hollins and Marlee Morgan were the other athletes wounded during the attack but later recovered. Jones has since been charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony. The tragedy unfolded just as the team was returning by bus back to the campus from a school trip. According to ESPN, a case status hearing is scheduled for today (Dec. 8).
