CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The governing body of the University of Virginia is preparing for potential lawsuits and discussing changes to on-campus safety in the wake of a deadly shooting that claimed the lives of three football players last year.
The Board of Visitors met virtually Thursday. They almost immediately went into a closed session, but before that happened, Rector Robert Hardie asked board member Jim Murray to make a motion.
“Mr. Rector, I move that the Board of Visitors go into closed session to consult with legal counsel and receive legal advice about specific legal matters relating to the Nov. 13, 2022 shootings at the university, including potential litigation where discussion in a public meeting could adversely affect an ongoing criminal investigation, as well as a potential civil litigation,” said Murray. “And to discuss plans for improving public safety in and around the grounds, where discussion in an open session could jeopardize the security of the grounds.”
The details of the discussion are so far unknown.
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Today’s meeting comes nearly two weeks after Attorney General Jason Miyares announced that an external review of the shootings had been completed, and that he had sent the report to the university, but would not be releasing it to the public.
UVA leadership later announced that after the results of the investigation were reviewed and discussed, the report would be released sometime this month.
UVA football teammates D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr., and Devin Chandler were shot and killed aboard a bus that had just returned from a class trip to Washington DC. Two other students were wounded, including Cavaliers running back Mike Hollins.
Police say the gunman was Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a UVA student who graduated from Petersburg High School. Charges against him were recently upgraded to multiple counts of aggravated murder.
Last December, a lawyer representing the parents of Perry said that the university made a mistake in the way it handled a potential threat posed by Jones prior to the shooting.
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During a press conference, attorney Michael Haggard said that when a student reported to UVA Student Affairs that Jones had told them he had a gun, school officials should have into Jones’s dorm room to search for a weapon.
"The threat assessment was not conducted properly and they could have removed him from campus well before this incident," Haggard said.
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