By Gracie Fortune and Zafahr Mohmand, Staff Writers
On the night of November 14, 2022, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr shot three football stars at the University of Virginia: Lavel Davis Jr, Devin Chandler, and D’sean Perry. Around 10:40 on that Monday, the police were notified of gun shots on the campus, which was later discovered as a fatal shooting. The 3 students unfortunately passed away, but will always be remembered for their positive impact on Virginia’s football team and on the students within their community.
Two of the men,Lavel Davis Jr and Devin Chandler,were 20 years old when their lives were lost, and the other, D’sean Perry,was 22. In addition to being on the football team, they were also doing well in most of their classes, and were involved in other activities across the campus (The Washington Post). The family and friends of these three men will continue to mourn over the sudden, traumatic death of their loved ones.
The family of the shooter, Christopher Darnell Jones, claims that he was bullied by certain students at the school (CNN). Other close friends and family of the shooter said that Christopher had been acting out of character leading up to the event, and they were worried about his mental health. Senior Ethan Weiner believes that mental health plays a big impact on how a person acts towards others, “We need to pay more attention to everyone’s mental health, especially in school because if a person is feeling badly about themselves they might act out and take their frustration with themselves out on other people”.
While the Virginia police are still trying to piece it all together, the motives remain unknown. There are still many questions that need to be answered, and the family and police are looking for more information everyday. Even though this shooting is a large mystery, the lives of the 3 young men that were lost will be honored by the community.
The University of Virginia has taken it upon themselves to analyze the situation, realize how it could’ve been prevented, and find solutions to lessen the chances of an event like this ever happening again. They will be stricter on making sure only students who live in certain dorms will be allowed in, share groups or numbers they can call if they feel uncomfortable, and dramatically increase the number of police and security around the campus.
When asked about how the River Hill students feel about this tragedy, Senior Sean Gerith proclaimed, “Guns are way too accessible and it isn’t right that kids can get them too easily.” Another student, Colt Pitsley, discussed how he feels that gun violence is glorified in music nowadays, “Guns are glorified in the music kids listen to, so they probably don’t even think there’s anything wrong with a 16 year old owning a gun”. All of the students agree that the gun laws need to be stricter to protect the students in college/school communities and the security in these environments needs to be increased.
Some of the students here at River Hill feel as if they can relate to the anxiety that comes with worrying about violence threats while at school. With the 2 big threats in the past couple months here, we can relate to the frustration with going to school to learn, but not feeling safe in that environment. Junior Megan Iacobellis claims, “Obviously an actual shooting is much more severe than the threats that we have gotten and had to deal with, so I can’t relate to how the UVA students are feeling in that aspect. However, I can definitely relate to the nervousness and fear that comes across my mind whenever we deal with gun, bomb, or just any threats of violence in the River Hill community.”
As River Hill students, we can not only grieve over the lost students, but try to help build a better community where shootings like this don’t happen at schools. Students should advocate for a safer community with stricter gun laws and more aware security, which may have contributed to the shooting in Charlottesville. We need to live in honor of these three young boys and provide justice for them and their families.