UVA football players react to teammates deaths: ‘I’m speechless’

Members of the University of Virginia (UVA) football team reacted with shock and sadness on Monday after three of their teammates were killed in a mass shooting.

Players Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry, and Devin Chandler were gunned down on Sunday night in a shooting near a parking deck on the UVA’s main campus in Charlottesville. At least two others were also injured. The shooter, Christopher Jones, was also a former UVA football player and was arrested following a manhunt in the wake of the incident.

As the news spread on Monday morning and the three victims were identified, other players on the UVA football team took to social media with reactions to their tragic deaths. Terrell Jones, a defensive line for the UVA Cavaliers, mourned the losses, saying that they were as good as men as they were as athletes.

“[Three] great players…” Jones tweeted. “But 3 even better great men off the field love y’all boys.”

UVA quarterbacks Delaney Crawford and Jay Woolfolk shared similar sentiments on social media, the former posting “I’m speechless” and the latter “Lost for words,” each accompanied by a broken heart emoji.

The Virginia Cavaliers team has yet to officially release a statement on the three deaths. The team’s official Twitter page’s only activity since the news broke has been to retweet an announcement that its Monday game against Northern Iowa had, understandably, been canceled. Newsweek reached out to the team for comment.

At least one other victim from the Sunday night shooting has also been confirmed to be a UVA football player, Mike Hollins. A junior running back who previously played for University Lab High School in Baton Rouge, Hollins was reportedly injured in the incident and is currently recovering after a successful surgery. The identity of the other injured party has not been reported. Hollins’ involvement was reported by a former high school coach of his, as university officials have so far declined to name the two injured victims.

The significance of the shooter reportedly being a former UVA football player, and at least four of his victims being current players, has not yet been established. Newsweek reached out to UVA for comment.

Davis, in particular, had received praise for his abilities on the field, posting impressive stats in his freshman year and returning from injury in the most recent season as a junior in impressive fashion. Multiple NFL draft analysts told Newsweek that Davis would certainly have been a strong draft contender in 2023, with one saying that he would have made a “special talent” in the NFL.