UVa Shooting Victims' Families Get $9M Settlement

But the families aren't done yet, also want a report on the shooting released now
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 3, 2024 12:00 PM CDT
UVa Settles With Families of Shooting Victims for $9M
From left, Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D'Sean Perry. The three University of Virginia football players were killed in a shooting, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022, in Charlottesville, Va., while returning from a class trip.   (University of Virginia Athletics via AP, File)

The University of Virginia has settled for $9 million with the families of three football players who were killed and two students who were injured in a 2022 mass shooting, reports CNN, but lawyers for the families say the settlement isn't the end of the road for them. A university rep confirmed that the settlement had been approved by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and will be paid by the Commonwealth "pursuant to its Division of Risk Management Plan." The families of football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D'Sean Perry will receive $2 million each, while Marlee Morgan and Michael Hollins, who were injured in the gunfire aboard a bus returning from a school trip, will split $3 million.

But, as the AP reports, the families want to see the results of an independent investigation into the shooting, which UVa has been sitting on since last year, pending the trial of suspect Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. That inquiry looked at the university's efforts to assess the potential threat of Jones, who exhibited red flags prior to the shooting, as well as to see what was learned.

"This settlement today is only one small step for these families—there is much to be done," says Kimberly Wald, a lawyer for the Perry, Hollins, and Morgan families. "If there is one lesson, even one lesson that we can learn from that report, we need to know it now. ... We need to protect lives now." Jones is charged with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, and two counts of malicious wounding. (More UVa shooting stories.)

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