CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The University of Virginia will pay $9 million in a settlement related to a 2022 campus shooting that killed three football players and wounded two students, a lawyer representing some of the victims and their families said Friday.
The school in Charlottesville will pay $2 million each to the families of the three students who died, the maximum allowable under Virginia law, said Kimberly Wald, an attorney with the Miami-based Haggard Law firm.
Wald represents the estate of D’Sean Perry. The other two students who died were Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr.
The university will pay $3 million total to the two students who were wounded Mike Hollins, a fourth member of the football team, and Marlee Morgan, who Wald also represents.
The settlement was negotiated outside of court and did not follow the filing of a lawsuit, Wald said. However, every settlement in Virginia must be approved by a judge. The settlement with UVA was accepted by a judge in Albemarle County Circuit Court on Friday afternoon.
The agreements also were approved by Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin and state Attorney General Jason Miyares, the university said in a statement.
UVA Rector Robert Hardie and President Jim Ryan said in the statement that the three students’ lives “were tragically cut short” and the young men “have been ever present in our minds.”
“We will forever remember the impact that Devin, Lavel, and D’Sean had on our community, and we are grateful for the moments they spent in our presence uplifting UVA through their time in the classroom and on the football field,” the statement said.
Police said Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a UVA student and former member of the school’s football team, carried out the shooting. It occurred when he and others had returned by charter bus to campus from a field trip to see a play in Washington, authorities said.
The violence that erupted near a parking garage set off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured.
Within days of the shooting, university leaders asked for an outside review to investigate UVA’s safety policies and procedures, its response to the violence and its prior efforts to assess the potential threat of the student who was eventually charged. School officials acknowledged he previously had been on the radar of the university’s threat-assessment team.
Murder charges against Jones were upgraded in 2023 from second-degree murder to aggravated murder. His trial is scheduled for January.
The University of Virginia has recently agreed to pay a $9 million settlement in connection to a tragic shooting incident that resulted in the deaths of three football players and injuries to two students. The incident, which occurred in April of last year, sent shockwaves through the university community and left many questioning the safety and security measures in place on campus.
The shooting took place during a party at an off-campus residence, where a lone gunman opened fire on the unsuspecting crowd. Three football players were tragically killed in the attack, while two other students were injured and required hospitalization. The incident left the entire university community reeling, as they struggled to come to terms with the senseless violence that had taken place.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the university faced intense scrutiny over its handling of the situation and its overall campus security measures. Many questioned whether more could have been done to prevent such a tragedy from occurring, and whether the university had taken adequate steps to ensure the safety of its students.
As part of the settlement agreement, the University of Virginia has agreed to pay $9 million to the families of the victims and the injured students. The university has also committed to implementing new safety and security measures on campus, including increased police presence, improved surveillance systems, and enhanced training for staff and students on how to respond to emergency situations.
While no amount of money can ever fully compensate for the loss of life or the trauma experienced by those affected by the shooting, the settlement serves as a step towards closure for the victims’ families and a reminder to the university community of the importance of prioritizing safety and security on campus.
Moving forward, it is essential that the University of Virginia continues to prioritize the safety and well-being of its students, faculty, and staff. By learning from this tragic incident and implementing necessary changes to prevent similar events from occurring in the future, the university can honor the memory of those lost in the shooting and create a safer environment for all members of its community.
