The University of Virginia will pay $9 million in a settlement reached with the families of the victims of a 2022 campus shooting that killed three university football players and wounded two other students, a lawyer representing some of the victims and their families announced Friday.
The school will pay $2 million each to the families of D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr., the maximum allowed under Virginia law, according to attorney Kimberly Wald, who represents some of the families.
A total of $3 million will also be paid to the two students who were wounded — Mike Hollins, a fourth member of the football team, and Marlee Morgan.
Some of the families, however, are not satisfied and are demanding the immediate release of an independent investigation into the shooting that was completed last year. The probe’s focus included efforts by the university to assess the potential threat of the suspect, a student who was eventually charged with murder, and recommendations from what was discovered in the investigation.
MURDER CHARGES UPGRADED IN UVA FOOTBALL PLAYER SHOOTING CASE
University of Virginia football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry. (University of Virginia athletics)
The alleged shooter was identified by police as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who was a UVA student and former member of the school’s football team.
Wald, who represents Perry’s estate, said the university should have removed the alleged shooter from campus before the attack happened because he displayed multiple red flags through erratic and unstable behavior.
“This settlement today is only one small step for these families — there is much to be done,” Wald said. “If there is one lesson, even one lesson that we can learn from that report, we need to know it now … We need to protect lives now.”
University officials delayed the report’s release last year over concerns that it could impact the suspect’s upcoming trial.
“We are committed to providing it as soon as we can be sure that doing so will not interfere in any way with the criminal proceeding,” UVA President Jim Ryan said at the time.
The settlement was negotiated outside of court and did not follow the filing of a lawsuit, according to Wald. But every settlement in Virginia must be approved by a judge, and the settlement was accepted by a judge in Albemarle County Circuit Court on Friday afternoon.
The agreements were also approved by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia Attorney General…
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