Medical Examiner: Slain UVA students were shot in the head
RICHMOND, Va. — Three University of Virginia football players who were shot on a bus as they returned from a field trip each died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The cause of death for Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler was released in response to a request from The Associated Press on Thursday. LaKeshia Johnson, Central District Administrator of the medical examiner’s office, also said the manner of death was homicide.
An outside special counsel will assist the state attorney general in reviewing the University of Virginia campus shooting that left three students dead and two others injured earlier this week, officials said Thursday.
In a letter, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and University Rector Whitt Clement asked Attorney General Jason Miyares to appoint outside counsel to investigate both UVA’s response to the Sunday shooting, as well as the efforts it undertook prior to the violence to assess the potential threat of the suspect.
“After a tragedy of this nature, it is important for the affected institution to take a hard look at what circumstances led up to the event and, how the University responded in the moment,” Clement said in a statement. “Once an external review commences, we expect it to be the central avenue by which we gain a deeper understanding about what led to this tragic event.”
An ongoing criminal investigation is also underway, led by Virginia State Police. The agency, which assumed primary responsibility in the case Thursday, said it could not comment on a possible motive for the shooting.
Miyares granted the university’s request for the outside review, saying in a news release that he would enlist special counsel to assist his office.
“A public report will be shared with students, families, the larger UVA community, and government officials at the appropriate time,” Miyares spokesperson Victoria LaCivita said in a statement. “The Attorney General will work with deliberate speed while ensuring that all necessary resources remain devoted to the criminal investigation being conducted by state and local authorities.”
In its request, UVA asked that the probe also “review all relevant University policies and procedures and make recommendations if opportunities for improvement or needs for change are identified.”
UVA has said the suspect, student and former football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., had been on the radar of the school’s threatassessment team since the fall. The university has also provided sometimes conflicting or erroneous statements about that team’s work over the course of the week.
Jones, 23, faces seconddegree murder and other charges in the Sunday night shooting, which broke out on a chartered bus returning from a field trip in Washington and set off a manhunt and 12-hour campus lockdown. Jones is currently being held without bond.
A witness told police the gunman targeted specific victims, shooting one as he slept, a prosecutor said in court Wednesday during Jones’ first court appearance. Neither Jones nor his attorney addressed the charges in court.
Football players Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed in the violence and will be honored in a Saturday memorial service on campus. A female student who was injured has since been discharged from a hospital. Football player Mike Hollins, who was also injured, underwent surgery and is still recovering in the hospital.
Hollins was “progressing positively” on Thursday and will hopefully begin to take some steps, according to Joe Gipson, a family spokesperson.