College football mourns as tragic shooting kills multiple Virginia Cavaliers players

The University of Virginia campus and community are reeling from the shocking and horrifying shooting late Sunday night into Monday morning that’s left multiple students dead, with multiple fatalities of Virginia Cavaliers football players.

The alleged shooter, whom local police identified as person of interest Chris Jones, also is a former walk-on Virginia football player who was on the Cavaliers’ roster early in the tenure of previous Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall.

Jones is a Richmond, Virginia, native who starred at both Petersburg and Varina high schools in the Commonwealth; per his Virginia Sports bio, Jones had been selected as a member of the National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society and had been president of the Key Club, among other accolades.

But according to police reports, Sunday night around 10:30, Jones is alleged to have gunned down three current Virginia football players – reports have identified those student-athletes as D’Sean Perry of Miami, Florida, Lavell Davis Jr. of Dorchester, S.C., and Devin Chandler, Huntersville, N.C. – who died from the injuries.

Sources also indicated at least one additional member of the Virginia football team was among the additional casualties in the shooting, which unfolded on a parking structure at the UVa campus located in Charlottesville, Virginia, and one of the nation’s oldest, public land-grand institutions.

UVa officials on Monday cancelled all classes, after hours earlier having to utilize the system’s to broadcast an emergency alert to all students, and University of Virginia President Dr. James E. Ryan also penned a message to the UVa community.

Ryan and other school leaders as well as law enforcement personnel are scheduled to host a press conference at 11 a.m.

Only in the past few moments did UVa officials rescind the shelter-in-place order that had been issued in the wake of the shooting, for which a motive has not been publicly identified.

Disbelief and support have flowed forth in the wake of the tragic news across all walks of life.

“God took one of his most kind, humble, loving soldiers off of the battlefield last night,” Tweeted Sean Lampkin, an assistant coach at NCAA program Newberry College in South Carolina, about Davis Jr., whom Lampkin said was his cousin.

First-term Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also Tweeted about the tragedy.

“This morning, Suzanne and I are praying for the UVA community,” Youngkin posted. “Virginia State Police is fully coordinating with UVA police department and local authorities. Please shelter in place while the authorities work to locate the suspect.”

The Cavaliers are in their first season under new head coach Tony Elliott and scheduled to Coastal Carolina Saturday for senior day. It’s unclear at this time the status of that game or the team’s finale Nov. 26 at traditional rival Virginia Tech.

FootballScoop sends its condolences and prayers to all affected families, coaches, players and everyone touched by this senseless tragedy.