Five Virginia college football players are from Louisiana, including one recovering from shooting
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A University of Virginia student shot and killed three members of the school’s football team and injured two others as they returned from a field trip, authorities said, setting off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured Monday.
University President Jim Ryan identified the three slain students as Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry.
Michael Hollins, a former star running back from Baton Rouge’s University Lab School, was wounded and is recovering from surgery.
As word of the shooting began to spread, worry set in for the families of four other Louisiana footballers who now play for the Cavaliers.
Former Landry High quarterback Keytaon Thompson and Helen Cox star Donovan Johnson escaped injury.
RELATED STORIES
Former Baton Rouge athlete injured in Univ. of Va. shooting, sources say
Suspect in deadly U.Va. shooting taken into custody
“It’s very unfortunate that this is taking place on the UVA campus,” said former Landry High coach Emmanuel Powell, who coached Thompson in 2016. “(Keytaon) is one of the best players I’ve coached, a talented kid he’s one of the best ones yet. Keytaon is safe and doing well. He’s one of the genuine kids you can bring home and treat him like your child.”
As for Hollins, his family is now headed from Baton Rouge to Virginia to be near as he recovers.
The Associate Athletic Director at his former Baton Rouge high school put out a statement saying:
“The University Lab school is praying for full recovery of our former student athlete Michael Hollins and his teammate, while mourning the loss of the three victims, whose lives were taken in the shooting last night. Our thoughts are with Mike, his family, and with the families of all the victims.”
Ryan said authorities did not have a “full understanding” of the motive or circumstances surrounding the shooting.
“The entire university community is grieving this morning,” a visibly strained Ryan said. “My heart is broken for the victims and their families and for all those who knew and loved them.”
The killings happened at a time when the nation is on edge from a string of mass shootings during the last six months, including a shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas; a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb that killed seven people and wounded more than 30; and a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10 people and wounded three.
Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom said in a letter to the UVA community that classes and other academic activities would be canceled on Tuesday. A university-wide vigil is being planned for a later date.
Elsewhere, police in Moscow, Idaho, were investigating the deaths of four University of Idaho students found Sunday in a home near the campus.
Officers discovered the deaths when they responded to a report of an unconscious person, authorities said.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.
Copyright 2022 WVUE. All rights reserved.
