RICHMOND, Va. -- The University of Virginia football team has not yet decided whether or not to play its next scheduled football following the shooting deaths of three players and the arrest of a former player on murder charges.
Head football coach Tony Elliott and athletics director Carla Williams addressed the issue at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
"We'll make [a decision] together," Williams said when asked about a decision regarding Saturday's game. "It will be a discussion with coach [Elliott] and the team. Obviously, they're going through a lot. And we want to make sure they're involved as well. We'll use our best judgment."
William said a decision would be made "soon."
UVA is scheduled to take on #23 Coastal Carolina (9-1) at home on Saturday.
The Hoos would then take on rival Virginia Tech on Saturday, November 26.
The press conference came two days after UVA student and former football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. allegedly shot five people, killing three, inside a bus full of students who had just traveled back from Washington, DC to see a play.
Jones Jr. was a member of that group of students, a university spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
Spokesperson Brian Coy said Jones Jr., 22, joined what was previously described as a group of about two dozen others who traveled about 120 miles (193 kilometers) from the campus in Charlottesville, Virginia, to Washington for the field trip Sunday.
Police said Jones, a former member of the school's football team, shot and killed three current team members and wounded two other students, at least one of them also a football player.
The shooting set off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured Monday just outside Richmond.
University President Jim Ryan said at a news conference Monday that authorities did not have a “full understanding” of the motive or circumstances of the shooting. Authorities said it was unclear how Jones was able to flee the shooting scene.
Charging documents had not been filed in the matter as of Tuesday afternoon, and it wasn't immediately clear when Jones - who remained in custody - would make his first court appearance. It also was not clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
UVA canceled classes and other academic activities Tuesday and made counselors and therapy dogs available to the university community.
The university has identified the three slain students as Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry. Head football coach Tony Elliott said they were all “incredible young men with huge aspirations and extremely bright futures.”
Jones, a member of the school's football team during the 2018 season, faces three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, university police Chief Timothy Longo Sr. said Monday.
Jones came to the attention of the university’s threat-assessment team this fall in the context of a review of a “potential hazing issue,” the university said in a statement provided to the AP on Tuesday.
During that review, university officials heard from a student that Jones made a comment about having a gun. That student did not report Jones making any threat, according to the statement. University officials investigated and subsequently discovered Jones had previously been tried and convicted of a misdemeanor concealed weapons violation in 2021.
“Throughout the investigation, Mr. Jones repeatedly refused to cooperate with University officials who were seeking additional information about the claims that he had a firearm and about his failure to disclose the previous misdemeanor conviction. Accordingly, on October 27, the Threat Assessment Team escalated his case for disciplinary action,” the statement said.
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