Saturday’s game between Virginia and Coastal Carolina has been canceled following the shooting of five students on Virginia’s campus Sunday night, the Cavaliers announced Wednesday. The shooting resulted in the deaths of three members of the UVa football team — receivers Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis and linebacker D’Sean Perry.
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The game was slated to be Virginia’s final home game of the 2022 season. A decision on whether Virginia will participate in its regular-season finale against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Nov. 26 has not been made.
“As much as we love game day and the spirit it brings, there is a time when the sanctity of life and sustaining of a community take precedence. This is one of those times,” Matt Hogue, Coastal Carolina’s athletic director, said in a statement. “We fully support the decision and will continue offering our assistance and contribute however we can toward the healing of our friends and colleagues at UVa.”
A number of teams around Virginia — including James Madison, Old Dominion, Liberty, Virginia Tech, Richmond and William & Mary — will wear a helmet decal this weekend to honor the victims, The Athletic confirmed. Virginia Tech also shared on social media Wednesday that it put up a banner reading “Hokies for Hoos.”
The ACC has also produced Virginia helmet decals that all league schools will wear Saturday. Additionally, there will be a moment of silence at every ACC home football game this weekend, along with graphics for videoboard and school use.
Sunday’s shooting occurred on a bus full of students, including Chandler, Davis and Perry, returning from a field trip to Washington, D.C., to see a play. Virginia athletic director Carla Williams said Tuesday that she had no details on what led to the incident.
Running back Mike Hollins, another player who was shot, is recovering after undergoing two successful surgeries, according to a statement from his family. Another student, whose name has not been released by the school, was also taken to a hospital with injuries.
“It feels like it’s a nightmare to be honest with you, and I’m ready for somebody to pinch me and wake me up and say that this didn’t happen,” football coach Tony Elliott said at a news conference Tuesday. “It’s been a long … I don’t know how long it’s been since it happened. The minutes can’t go by fast enough.”
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Elliott added that the program has tried to “transition from the pain to finding a little bit of joy in celebrating the lives of Lavel, D’Sean and Devin.”
“Nothing can prepare you for this situation, and we just want to be there to support the guys,” he said. “I think it’s important that we all grieve. These are outstanding young men that we don’t understand why they’re gone so early.”
Police arrested Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who was a one-semester walk-on on the 2018 football team, in connection with the shooting. He has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder as well as three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Tuesday that Jones has also been charged with two counts of malicious wounding.
On Wednesday, a judge ordered Jones to be held without bond and set a status hearing in the case for Dec. 8. Jones, who appeared before the judge via a video link from jail, did not enter a plea to his charges, according to the Associated Press.
Commonwealth attorney James Hingeley shared details from witness statements in court. Outside the courthouse, Hingeley revealed that a passenger on the bus said Jones was aiming at people and not shooting randomly on the bus, according to ESPN. A witness on the bus also told police that Jones shot and killed Chandler while he was sleeping, reports ESPN.
(Photo: Jeremy Brevard / USA Today)