UVa reaches $9M settlement with families of 2022 shooting victims (2024)

The University of Virginia has reached a settlement agreement with the families and victims of the 2022 shooting on Grounds that killed three and injured two others.

The families of slain UVa students and football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry will each receive $2 million, with another $3 million to be divided between the two other students injured in the shooting, Marlee Morgan and fellow Cavaliers football player Mike Hollins.

“The settlements approved today is just one small step on this terrible road that these families are on,” Elliott Buckner, a lawyer for Perry’s family, told the press at the courthouse Friday.

In the courtroom, as several of the victims’ family members openly wept, Buckner told Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Claude Worrell that settlement discussions began last summer with the deal getting hammered out during a November mediation session. Bucker said that $2 million per death was the maximum available under the state’s risk management plan.

“There was no other applicable insurance,” Buckner told the judge.

Worrell asked Buckner if the families wanted to put on any evidence before he approved the agreement.

“The court is well aware of what happened and what amazing young men they were,” replied Buckner, declining to offer more than a brief summary indicating the families’ approval.

“None of the families are happy to be here today,” said Buckner. “These settlements bring closure.”

Chandler, Davis and Perry were killed the night of Nov. 13, 2022, on a chartered bus that was returning to the university from a field trip to Washington, D.C., where students saw the play “The Ballad of Emmett Till.” For reasons unknown, another student on the trip opened fire.

The incident sparked outpourings of grief at UVa and in the surrounding Charlottesville community. The remainder of the football season and several other sporting events were canceled. Memorials with the numbers 1, 15 and 41, the numbers worn by the three slain players, were placed throughout the community, from fraternity houses to cafe windows.

In the aftermath, the school and community made ample use of the phrase “UVa strong” while also grappling with the grim revelation that UVa had received prior warnings about the gunman, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., including a report that he kept a gun on Grounds in contravention of school rules. A post-shooting search of his dormitory found a semi-automatic rifle, pistol, ammunition, magazines and a device used to make bullets fire faster, according to a search warrant inventory obtained by The Daily Progress.

Additionally, Jones had failed to notify the school that he had previously been convicted of carrying a concealed weapon.

Now charged with three counts of aggravated murder, he faces a trial in January that could result in life behind bars.

Charlottesville legal analyst Scott Goodman said that even though $2 million can’t begin to compensate a family for the loss of a child, the financial settlement is an example of compromise.

“If they went to trial, maybe they would have gotten less because they might not have been able to prove liability,” said Goodman. “And the university doesn’t have to undergo a trial and have a spotlight shone on their actions and lack of actions.”

The settlements have been approved by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares, according to UVa, which released a statement saying the three young men remain “ever present” in the minds of UVa Rector Robert Hardie and President Jim Ryan.

“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,” reads the statement.

Buckner said that the families of the victims are still urging UVa to release a state-commissioned fact-finding report that was initially promised but withheld after its October 2023 completion.

“The most important thing for these families, the thing that will really bring them closure, is to know what happened to their sons,” said Buckner. “It is time for UVa and the commonwealth to release the report.”

Toward that end, The Daily Progress filed a legal petition in February to obtain a copy of the report and recently secured a late June trial date after overcoming UVa’s efforts to dismiss the case.

Standing on the steps of the courthouse, where the release of the report will be argued on June 21, Buckner urged action by UVa and state leaders.

“If they really want to do something that will benefit the families,” said Buckner, “then they will release that report.”

Perry’s mother, Happy Perry, said the report is more than a matter of closure for her family. It could provide valuable insight into the safety and security gaps that Jones was able to slip through before he killed her son and two others.

“As a mom, I want to know what happened,” she said during an online press conference hosted by the Perrys and the other victims’ families Friday evening. “It is an issue of public safety and national security.”

Perry’s mother said she intends to fight to tighten gun restrictions so that what happened to her son won’t happen to another young man.

“Today is tough, but my fight is bigger than just today,” she said. “My fight won’t bring back the three boys, but if I can help save a life, then I have done my due diligence.”