the University of Virginia Soccer players killed while returning from an outing earlier this week died of gunshot wounds to the head, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has confirmed.
An administrator with the medical examiner’s office confirmed the causes of death for Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler in an email to The Associated Press, noting that the manner of death for all three men was homicide.
The victims were among several students who had traveled to Washington, DC, on Sunday for a field trip to see a performance. They were returning to the Richmond, Virginia, campus and were on a bus with about two dozen people around 12:35 a.m. Monday when Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. allegedly opened fire.
UVA SHOOTING SUSPECT PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED WITH SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPON, REPORTED FAILED BACKGROUND CHECK
Grape football player D’Sean Perry
(Official Virginia Cavaliers Athletic Site)
Jones, also a student who attended the field trip, was previously a member of the football team.
UVA SHOOTING SUSPECT CHRISTOPHER DARNELL JONES MAKES FIRST COURT APPEARANCE, CRIMINAL RECORDS UNVEALED
UVA soccer player Lavel Davis Jr.
(Official Virginia Cavaliers Athletic Site)
Before the shooting, Jones “got up and pushed [victim] Level [Davis]”Witness Ryan Lynch, 19, told local news station KYW-TV. “After I pushed him, he said: ‘You guys are always picking on me.’ He said something weird like that. But it was very strange because they didn’t talk to him the whole trip.”
UVA football player Devin Chandler
(Official Virginia Cavaliers Athletic Site)
Lynch reportedly said that he thought Jones was “going to shoot everyone on the bus at that point.”
“It just kept coming more and more shots. The shooter just walked or jumped off the bus when I saw him go by,” Lynch told the station. She described how one of the victims “just had so many shots in him.”
University of Virginia police released a photo of Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who has been named a suspect in a shooting on the UVA campus on November 13, 2022.
(University of Virginia Police/Twitter)
Jones allegedly fired more rounds as he fled, authorities said. Police said investigators recovered a firearm in “relative proximity.”
One of the three victims was sleeping at the time of the shooting, prosecutors said.
Two other victims were injured but survived.
Jones has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder, among other charges. The chase for the 23-year-old ended hours later.
University of Virginia Police Chief Timonty J. Longo, Sr., is informed by a Virginia State Police Chief Captain that the suspect in Monday’s shooting, Christopher Darnell Jones, Jr., is in custody.
(Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
UVA Police Chief Timothy J. Longo said Jones had a disciplinary history with the university over a hazing incident and was allegedly involved in a previous weapons investigation.
GRAPE SHOOTING TIMELINE: MICHAEL HOLLINS’ DAD SAYS CHRISTOPHER DARNELL JONES ‘SHOT’ THE BUS OF EX-CLASSES
The manhunt at the University of Virginia continues for shooting suspect Christopher Darnell Jones, Jr.
(Credit: WTTG)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
A memorial service honoring Chandler, Davis and Perry is scheduled for Saturday on the UVA campus.
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
