3 University of Virginia football players killed in campus shooting honored with posthumous degrees
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA: Three University of Virginia football players killed in a shooting last month on November 13 have posthumously received their degrees, according to university officials. D'Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr were killed when a student opened fire on a charter bus returning to school after a class field trip to see a play in Washington, DC.
Darnell Jones, a former University of Virginia football player was arrested following a manhunt in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jones is also accused of wounding two other students on campus. He is charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun.
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The College of Arts and Sciences departments and the Office of the Provost authorized posthumous degrees for famous athletes. While school officials attended each student's hometown burial, the degrees were produced and distributed to family members. Davis, from Ridgeville, South Carolina, was a third-year student who majored in African American and African studies and played wide receiver. He was set to graduate in December and was a beloved first child and a “role model” to his younger brother and sister, Davis' father Thaddeus Lavel Davis said as per NBC News. Carla Williams, the university's Director of Athletics, attended Davis' burial on November 30 in North Charleston and said it was clear while conversing with his family, “why earning his degree from the University of Virginia was so important to Lavel. He worked extremely hard for it," she said.
Why Virginia? : Lavel Davis Jr. (@LDJxlll)
— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) May 19, 2021
"At Virginia... it's way bigger than football"#GoHoos | #THEStandard pic.twitter.com/N36ziINxVR
Chandler was a second-year student majoring in American studies. American studies professor Jack Hamilton tweeted that he helped Chandler declare his major, "which he was really excited about.", In a series of tweets after their killing he wrote, "... I helped him declare his American studies major, which he was really excited about. he was an unbelievably nice person, always a huge smile, really gregarious and funny. one of those people who's just impossible not to like. it is so sad and enraging that he is gone"
later i helped him declare his american studies major, which he was really excited about. he was an unbelievably nice person, always a huge smile, really gregarious and funny. one of those people who's just impossible not to like. it is so sad and enraging that he is gone.
— Jack Hamilton (@jack_hamilton) November 14, 2022
Perry, a fourth-year student, double majored in studio art and African American and African studies, according to the university. "Football and art was his passion, but the love that he had for his family, friends, and his community was proven time and time again through his candid dedication," his parents Sean and Happy Perry, said. Perry was "very, very, very artistic", head coach Tony Elliott share about Perry in a news conference last month. “It was a great honor to be a part of presenting these diplomas to the families of Devin, Lavel and D’Sean," The director Carla said in a statement Monday.