D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr. were killed when a fellow student opened fire on the bus they were riding in. The UVA attack was among more than 620 mass shootings this year in the US and 75 shootings on school campuses in 2022.
D’Sean’s mother, Carrie Sanders, spoke publicly for the first time about her son’s death and said she was broken that she had just gotten off the phone with him. She said she waited until he came home from football to put up the Christmas tree topper.
D’Sean Perry’s parents called for stricter gun laws and more mental health support after their son was killed in a shooting on a charter bus. Christopher Darnell Jones Jr, a fellow student and former football player, is now in jail. He faces three charges of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony.
A handgun and a rifle were found at the scene of the shooting, and a rifle and handgun were recovered from Jones’ residence in Charlottesville, Virginia State Police said in a statement last month. The weapons were turned over as evidence to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for processing.
The University of Virginia’s judicial council took over the case, and the results were pending when the shooting happened, Timothy Longo, the school’s police chief, said.
Jones was the subject of a pending, gun-related case with the university’s judicial council, officials have said. Jones “repeatedly refused to cooperate with University officials” and his case was escalated in October.
Jones was denied buying firearms in 2018 and 2021, but was able to buy them this year. It is unclear whether either of those weapons were used in the November shooting.