3 slain UVA football players honored with posthumous degrees

Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D'Sean Perry were shot while on a bus.

December 6, 2022, 5:06 PM

Three University of Virginia football players killed in a mass shooting on the Charlottesville campus have been honored with posthumous degrees from the university.

Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D'Sean Perry were fatally shot on the night of Nov. 13 while on a bus that had just returned from a class trip to see a play in Washington, D.C. Two other students were injured in the incident. The suspected gunman, also a student, was arrested.

Members of the University of Virginia community attend a candlelight vigil on the South Lawn for the victims of a shooting overnight at the university, on Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville, Va.
Win Mcnamee/Getty Images

Chandler was a second-year student majoring in American studies. American studies professor Jack Hamilton tweeted that he helped Chandler declare his major, "which he was really excited about."

A handout picture shows college football player Devin Chandler who was killed in a shooting attack at the University of Virginia, in this undated handout.
University Of Virginia/via Reuters

"He was an unbelievably nice person, always a huge smile, really gregarious and funny," Hamilton tweeted. "It is so sad and enraging that he is gone."

Davis, a third-year student, majored in African American and African studies, according to UVA.

A handout picture shows college football player Lavel Davis Jr. who was killed in a shooting attack at the University of Virginia, in this undated handout.
University Of Virginia/via Reuters

In a university video last year, Davis said he loved movies, reading Shakespeare and the Bible.

Davis called UVA the "perfect place for anyone who wants to work hard and be great."

UVA president Jim Ryan and athletics director Carla Williams were among the university officials who attended the funerals in each of the player's hometowns.

Williams said, after talking with Davis' family at his funeral, "it became obvious" "why earning his degree from the University of Virginia was so important to" him. "He worked extremely hard for it," Williams said in a statement Monday.

Perry, a fourth-year student, double majored in studio art and African American and African studies, according to the university.

A handout picture shows college football player D'Sean Perry who was killed in a shooting attack at the University of Virginia, in this undated handout.
University Of Virginia/via Reuters

Perry was "very, very, very artistic" and loved music, head coach Tony Elliott said at a news conference last month. He had a "sense of humor that was one of a kind," Elliott said.

The diplomas have been presented to the slain students' families.

Members of the University of Virginia community attend a candlelight vigil on the South Lawn for the victims of a shooting overnight at the university, on Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville, Va.
Win Mcnamee/Getty Images

ABC News' Beatrice Peterson and Arthur Jones contributed to this report.