Memorial service held for slain UVA students: 'They were more than just football players'

The University of Virginia held a public memorial service on Saturday to honor the three football players killed in a mass shooting earlier this week on the Charlottesville campus.

Lavel Davis Jr., and Devin Chandler, both wide receivers on the team, and linebacker D'Sean Perry were killed on Sunday when a gunman opened fire on a bus full of students returning home from a class field trip to see a play in Washington, D.C., university officials said. Two other students -- Mike Hollins and Marlee Morgan -- were injured, the school said.

A suspect -- identified as 22-year-old UVA student Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a former walk-on player for the team -- was taken into custody Monday morning following an overnight manhunt. A motive hasn't been released.

Thousands of people, including family, teammates, students and politicians, gathered Saturday afternoon at the university's John Paul Jones arena for a somber but at times joyful memorial service to honor the lives of the three young men.

"They were much more than just football players," UVA President Jim Ryan said in his remarks. "They were kind. They were funny. They were full of energy. They were serious students. They were sons and grandsons and brothers. They were hard workers."

Chandler "could make friends with anyone," Ryan said.

In video statements, students remembered Chandler as a happy person with a warm and enthusiastic presence who was "always smiling."

"Your joy for life was contagious, and you made everyone around you happy," teammate Cody Brown said during the service. "You were never afraid to be yourself, and you would never let anyone's words bring you down."

A dedicated and driven player, Chandler would sleep at the McCue Center so he could get catches in before meetings, Brown said.

Davis was a leader of the Groundskeepers, a UVA community outreach group, "working to bring light to our past and to shine a path forward," Ryan said.

The wide receiver wanted to be a superstar in the NFL one day, a teammate recalled. He had a smile that could "light up a room" and an infectious personality, students said in video remarks.

Teammate Elijah Gaines said he considered Davis his "blood brother."

"Anytime I saw him, no matter what it was, when he smiled, I smiled," Gaines said. "His energy was always there."

He recalled Davis' love for his hometown of Ridgeville, South Carolina.

"That boy loved Ridgeville," Gaines said. "We're all from bigger cities than Ridgeville, but I swear, Lavel would make Ridgeville sound like it was the biggest city in the world."

Perry was an artist and musician, in addition to being a football player, Ryan said. Students remembered the 6' 3" linebacker as a "big teddy bear" and "gentle giant" who was genuinely kind.

"He was a glass-half-full kind of person whose smile always lit up the room. D'Sean was special that way," fellow linebacker Josh McCarron said during the service. "No matter who you were, where you were from, or what you stood for, D'Sean loved you like no other."

"To see the way this tragic event has brought a community together has shown me just how beautiful a person D'Sean was," he continued. "To see that so many of y'all saw D'Sean the way that we all saw him brings me peace and happiness."

UVA's head football coach, Tony Elliott, called the players "my three young kings."

"The world is a better place because of them," he said during the memorial service. "We will turn today's tragedy into tomorrow's triumph."

"My young kings, may you celebrate in paradise and we will celebrate on this side each and every day with the light of your stars," Elliott said.

The UVA football team was scheduled to play its final home game of the season on Saturday against Coastal Carolina University. The school announced the game will be canceled to instead host a memorial service as the community mourns the victims of the shooting.

Ryan said the football team's decision to cancel the game was supported by the head football coach and the university's athletic director.

The memorial service follows a silent vigil held at the campus on Monday night that was attended by hundreds.

In other tributes, members of UVA's basketball team warmed up on Friday for a game against Baylor in Las Vegas while wearing shirts in memory of the three students.

A memorial decal honoring Chandler, Davis and Perry has also been worn on the helmets of college football players this weekend, including during Saturday's Duke-Pittsburgh game.

The suspected gunman is facing three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, according to University of Virginia Police Chief Timothy Longo. Jones also faces two counts of malicious wounding and firearm charges in connection to the two other students, Albemarle County Commonwealth Attorney James Hingeley said.

Jones did not enter a plea at his first court appearance Wednesday. He is set to return to court on Dec. 8.

Amid the criminal investigation, Ryan said the school will conduct an external review of its interactions with the suspect to consider whether "we did all we could to prevent or avoid this tragedy."

"This will likely take a while, but we will share -- and act upon -- what we ultimately learn," he said in a video message earlier this week. "It's possible, and perhaps likely, that we will never find one single thing that will explain this. It may also be that we never truly understand why this happened."