The University agreed Friday to a $9 million settlement to victims and families of victims of the Nov. 13, 2022 shooting that killed three students and injured two others. According to reporting done by the Associated Press, the University will pay $2 million to each of the families of the three killed students —- football players Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler. The AP also reported that the University will pay a combined $3 million to Mike Hollins, former Virginia Football player, and fourth-year Commerce student Marlee Morgan, both of whom were injured in the shooting.
The settlement did not come from a lawsuit and was negotiated outside of court, according to the AP. However, the settlement had to be approved by a judge, per Virginia state law.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who is accused of carrying out the shooting that took place the night of Nov. 13, 2022, is set to face a three-week jury trial next year from Jan. 22 to Feb. 12. Darnell faces 13 charges, including six counts of aggravated murder — which were upgraded from second-degree murder in September 2023 — and two counts of malicious bodily injury.
The status of Darnell’s trial has delayed the release of an external review of the shooting requested by University leadership. Four days after the tragedy, former University Rector Whitt Clement and University President Jim Ryan asked Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares to conduct an independent review of the University’s response to the shooting and its ability to assess Jones as a threat to the community leading up to the event.
Despite having received the review Oct. 20, University leadership said it will not yet release the report publicly, citing concerns that releasing the report — before the upcoming criminal proceedings — could sway the jury or hinder the prosecution’s ability to make its case against Jones. University President Jim Ryan said that once the criminal proceedings have concluded, the University will release a redacted version of the report.
Charlottesville-based newspaper The Daily Progress sued the University earlier this year for the report’s release in a case that remains ongoing.
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