CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — On an otherwise bustling day on the grounds of the University of Virginia (UVA), the community stopped for a brief moment Monday to remember and reflect on a dark day in Virginia’s history.
The university and the greater Charlottesville community came together to memorialize the first anniversary of the deadly triple shooting on grounds last November.
A school-wide moment of silence took place at 12:55 Monday, with hundreds of students standing silent outside the Chapel Bells as "Amazing Grace” rang across the area.
According to police, suspected gunman and former UVA football player Christopher Darnell Jones fired into a crowded bus of UVA students after the group had just come back from a school-sanctioned trip to Washington D.C. on Nov. 13, 2022.
Football players Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed, and two other students including UVA running back Mike Hollins were injured but survived.
“Sometimes people don’t know what to say, or how to say it, but those few words may go a long way,” D’Sean’s mother Happy Perry said at a school forum on gun violence that began Monday’s schedule of memorial events.
“Every day finding joy in something he wanted, to live as D’Sean lived. To pour that love into those that pour love into me, my community,” she told to a crowd at Old Cabell Hall Monday morning.
Jones was found by authorities within hours of the initial shooting and is facing recently upgraded charges of aggravated murder. He is expected to appear in court in February.
As for the loss of Perry, Chandler and Davis Jr., their loss still cuts deep for students and staff at UVA, who wrote messages of remembrance and prayer on a UVA Strong-themed banner on the south lawn.
“’You are forever loved and cherished, I think about you every day and all the time. Fly high.’ That’s what I wrote,” said Fereshta Islamzada, a third-year student who sported a sweater with all three players’ silhouettes on the front.
After the shooting, she partnered with another UVA student to produce and sell the sweaters honoring the three players that she could then use to donate the proceeds to the family GoFundMe pages and the UVA Strong fund.
“We went through a rough time on November 13. We lost three souls but it did bring the community together,” she added.
“'For the lives lost, those injured, and those who experienced the trauma, our prayers are with you,'" Dean of Students Cedric Rucker said.
An independent, external review of the events that led to the deadly shooting has been completed, according to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. It was requested days after the shooting by the UVA president and Board of Visitors rector that the attorney general conduct an independent review. 13News Now requested a copy of the report through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The university's FOIA office cited state code as the basis to withhold its release. It is expected to be released sometime in November.