UVA Shooting in Charlottesville: Victims, Sentence, Settlement

The UVA shooting took place on the evening of November 13, 2022, when a University of Virginia student named Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. opened fire on a charter bus of classmates returning from a field trip, killing three members of the football team and wounding two other students. Jones was sentenced in November 2025 to five life terms plus 23 years in prison. The attack also led to a $9 million settlement with the victims’ families, a sweeping overhaul of UVA’s threat assessment and emergency alert systems, and a new Virginia law banning firearms in public college and university buildings.

What Happened on November 13, 2022

About two dozen students were aboard a charter bus returning from a class trip to see a play in Washington, D.C. As the bus parked near the Culbreth Road garage on UVA’s Grounds, Jones opened fire with a handgun. Three football players were killed and two other students were seriously wounded.¹

UVA sent an emergency alert and locked down the campus while law enforcement searched for the shooter. A later external review found the alert went out sixteen minutes after the first 911 call, delayed in part because of difficulty reaching the police shift commander for approval.² Body-camera footage later showed that an officer stopped Jones shortly after the shooting; Jones had discarded his firearm and identifying clothing, feigned shock, denied involvement, and was initially released. He was apprehended roughly twelve hours later.¹

The Victims

All three students killed were juniors on the Virginia Cavaliers football team.

Devin Chandler, a wide receiver from Huntersville, North Carolina, wore jersey No. 15. He had transferred to UVA from Wisconsin in January 2022.³
Lavel Davis Jr., 20, a 6-foot-7 wide receiver from Ridgeville, South Carolina, wore jersey No. 1. He had earned ACC Receiver and Rookie of the Week honors as a freshman in 2020.⁴⁵
D’Sean Perry, a linebacker from Miami, Florida, wore jersey No. 41. A Gulliver Preparatory Academy graduate, he had been named the South Florida Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2018 and played in 15 games across three seasons at Virginia.⁶⁷

UVA awarded posthumous degrees to all three.⁸

Running back Mike Hollins was shot in the back. The bullet pierced his kidney and small intestine, missing his spine by two centimeters. He was hospitalized with a breathing tube and 36 staples in his body.⁹ Hollins recovered, returned to the football team the following season, earned a master’s degree in 2025, joined the UVA football coaching staff as a graduate assistant, and received the NCAA Inspiration Award in 2025.¹⁰

Marlee Morgan was shot in her right leg. She spent months recovering in Houston, eventually returned to UVA, completed her degree at the McIntire School of Commerce, and walked onto the track and field team.¹¹

Who the Shooter Was and What UVA Knew

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was 22 and a UVA student at the time of the attack.¹² He had a prior hit-and-run charge and a misdemeanor concealed-carry violation from Chesterfield County. Prosecutors later presented evidence that he had been using and selling drugs near his home in Petersburg.¹

Jones had come to the attention of UVA’s Threat Assessment Team more than once. In September 2022, the university investigated a report that he possessed a gun on campus but found no evidence at the time. UVA also learned of his concealed-carry misdemeanor; students must disclose such violations, and the university opened a disciplinary process over Jones’s failure to report it. Officials said he was uncooperative, but the case was never elevated to the university’s judiciary committee, and it remains unclear why.¹³ A separate hazing investigation involving Jones was closed after witnesses declined to cooperate.

Jones’s father told NBC News that his son had recently said people were “picking on him” and had seemed “really paranoid” in their last conversation about a month before the shooting.¹² A forensic psychologist later testified that Jones had been suffering from serious mental illness and paranoia in the period leading up to the attack. Prosecutors argued his actions were calculated and deliberate rather than the product of a psychotic episode.¹

UVA’s post-shooting external review, conducted by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, concluded that the information the threat assessment team had before the shooting “would not have put a reasonable person on notice” that Jones would commit the acts he was charged with. The review still identified the need for greater investigative resources dedicated to threat assessment and better incident-management systems.¹⁴

The Guilty Plea and Sentence

On November 20, 2024, Jones pleaded guilty to ten charges: three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated malicious wounding, and five counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The first-degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding charges each carried a minimum potential sentence of 20 years to life.¹⁵¹⁶ The plea agreement preserved Jones’s eligibility to apply for geriatric release, available to felony convicts who have served at least ten years and reached 60 years of age.¹⁷

The sentencing hearing ran for several days in November 2025 before Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Higgins. Prosecutors sought life, pointing to text messages Jones had sent a fraternity brother months before the shooting saying he would “either die or do 100-plus years” in jail, his purchase of the firearm, and his attempt to flee and deceive police. Commonwealth’s Attorney James M. Hingeley argued that the victims posed no threat and the community “experienced the terror” of Jones’s actions.¹⁸¹⁹ The defense asked for a sentence balancing “accountability with compassion,” presenting testimony about Jones’s traumatic childhood and declining mental health, and argued it was “unfair to punish somebody for doing something that was not the product of a rational, calm mind.”²⁰

On November 21, 2025, Judge Higgins sentenced Jones to five life terms, one for each murder and one for each aggravated malicious wounding, plus 23 additional years for the firearms charges. The judge said the sentence was not “vindictive” but based on a “logical analysis,” and that while Jones had “distortions in his perception,” this did not interfere with his understanding of his actions. She noted that he had “no basis to perceive anyone on the bus that night as a threat” and executed the victims “without the slightest pause.”¹⁹²¹ Jones told the court: “I never said I wanted anything less than life. I don’t deserve anything like that.”¹⁷ As of late 2025, no appeal had been filed and the case was reported as closed.²²

The $9 Million Settlement With Victims’ Families

In May 2024, UVA reached a $9 million settlement with the families of the three students killed and the two students wounded. The families of Chandler, Davis, and Perry each received $2 million, the maximum allowable under Virginia’s Division of Risk Management Plan. Hollins and Morgan shared $3 million. The agreement was negotiated through mediation in November 2023 and approved by the Albemarle County Circuit Court, Governor Glenn Youngkin, and Attorney General Jason Miyares.²³²⁴ No lawsuit was ever filed; the settlement was reached outside of court, though it required judicial approval.²⁵

Attorneys for the families said the settlement did not provide closure and pressed for release of UVA’s independent review, arguing the families “do not have all of the facts about what happened to their sons.” Kimberly Wald, the families’ attorney, said the university should have removed Jones from campus given “multiple red flags” about his “erratic and unstable behavior.”²⁵

What Changed at UVA

UVA created a dedicated Office of Threat Assessment in early 2023, staffed with licensed clinical psychologists, response specialists, and a liaison officer from the University Police. Since January 2023, the office has evaluated more than 1,800 reports and completed nearly 500 comprehensive assessments.²⁶ Procedures now treat any report of a firearm on Grounds as a trigger for an immediate police investigation and an expedited threat assessment meeting.²⁷

The university also overhauled its emergency alert system, switching from an opt-in text system to automatic opt-out, which raised mobile number participation from 30% to 77%. Active alerts now average updates every 15 minutes. UVA installed a network of roughly 3,000 cameras across Grounds, consolidated safety operations into a hub at Zehmer Hall, launched a “U.Va. Ready” mobile app for incident reporting, and formalized guidelines requiring siren activation for active-attacker situations.²⁶ Mental health services expanded, including formalized Care and Support Services for students in distress, after-hours urgent consultation, and additional counseling through telehealth and embedded providers.

The New Virginia Campus Gun Law

The shooting exposed a gap in Virginia law. A 2021 statute prohibited firearms in state-owned buildings but specifically exempted institutions of higher education, which meant campus police could not open investigations or execute search warrants when a firearm was reported in a university building. UVA leadership spent four legislative sessions pushing for a fix.²⁸

In February 2025, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1876, which would have criminalized firearm possession in public college and university buildings. Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed it in March 2025, saying Boards of Visitors already had authority to regulate firearms on their campuses and that the legislation failed to account for geographic and cultural variations across Virginia.²⁹

The following year, under Governor Abigail Spanberger, matching bills passed both chambers. Senate Bill 272 and House Bill 626, sponsored by Senator Creigh Deeds and Delegate Katrina Callsen, cleared the House 63–35 and the Senate 21–19.³⁰²⁸³¹

How the Victims Are Remembered

The jersey numbers 1, 15, and 41 remain in use by the UVA football team but are treated as honors: players who wear them carry a patch with the name of the player they represent. A permanent “1-15-41” logo was added to the concourse ring at Scott Stadium, and the three names are part of the field design.³² An oak tree was planted on Grounds as a permanent memorial, and the university established the UVA Strong Fund.⁸ In 2023, the NFL honored Chandler, Davis, and Perry as honorary first selections of the NFL Draft, presenting their families with jerseys from each player’s favorite team. The university holds annual commemorations each November 13; at the three-year anniversary in 2025, three bells rang across Grounds to honor each victim, followed by a moment of silence, a march to the memorial, and a student-led pledge against gun violence.³³

1
UVA News. Man Who Committed 2022 Shootings on Grounds Sentenced to Five Life Terms
2
Charlottesville Tomorrow. Long-Awaited Report on 2022 UVA Shooting Determines the University Waited Too Long to Alert Students
3
Virginia Cavaliers Athletics. Devin Chandler Player Profile
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Virginia Cavaliers Athletics. Lavel Davis Player Profile
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ABC News. Funeral Held for UVA Football Player Lavel Davis Jr.
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Virginia Cavaliers Athletics. D’Sean Perry Player Profile
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NBC Miami. Football Player From Miami Among 3 Killed in University of Virginia Shooting
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UVA News. UVA Strong: Community Unites in Remembrance
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UVA Magazine. The Night Of
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NCAA. Mike Hollins Named 2025 NCAA Inspiration Award Recipient
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UVA News. Tragedy Slowed Her Down, Then This Hoo Got Faster
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NBC News. Father of UVA Shooting Suspect Says Son Seemed Paranoid
13
WRIC. Could Virginia’s Red Flag Law Have Helped in the UVA Case
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University of Virginia. Nov. 13 External Review Executive Summary
15
WAFB. Former UVA Student Pleads Guilty to 2022 Mass Shooting
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29News. Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. Pleads Guilty to 10 Charges
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UVA Magazine. Former Student Receives Five Life Sentences for 2022 Shootings on Grounds
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WTVR. UVA Shooting Sentencing Hearing Day 3
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WTVR. Christopher Jones Sentenced
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29News. Defense Presents Case as UVA Shooter Sentencing Continues
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CNN. University of Virginia Shooting
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12 On Your Side. UVA Shooter Facing Life in Prison After Week-Long Hearing
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Washington Post. UVA Shooting Settlement
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CNN. University of Virginia Mass Shooting Settlement
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VPM News. UVA to Pay $9 Million
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Cavalier Daily. Three Years After the Nov. 13 Shooting, UVA Has Reshaped Safety Systems
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UVA News. UVA Shares Reports From External Review of Nov. 13 Shooting
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UVA News. After Years of UVA Advocacy, Governor Signs Campus Gun Bill on Grounds
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Virginia Legislative Information System. HB 1876 Veto Statement
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Virginia Legislative Information System. HB 626 Bill Details
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Governor of Virginia. Governor Signs Campus Safety Legislation
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Cavalier Daily. More Than a Number: Honoring the Legacy of 1-15-41
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29News. Three-Year Anniversary Memorial Held for UVA Football Players Killed in Shooting