Virginia cancels Saturday’s game after shooting death of three players

The University of Virginia football team canceled its game against Coastal Carolina in the aftermath of a shooting on campus that took place on Sunday night, when three members of the team were killed.

The game was scheduled for for 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia. It would have been Virginia’s final home game of the 2022 season.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, of which Virginia is a part, released a statement, giving its ‘full support’ to Virginia, ‘including its decision to cancel this weekend’s football game.’

Juniors D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler were part of a group that  returned to campus after a class trip on Sunday to Washington, D.C., when authorities say the suspect, 22-year-old Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. shot the players.

Mike Hollins, a junior running back, was listed in serious condition and was scheduled to undergo a second surgery Tuesday. A fifth victim is also hospitalized.

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‘We’re still in shock trying to rationalize, but also find encouragement in the community with those that have come out to support and also with those internally that have banded together to try and figure how we move forward after going through a situation like this,’ Virginia football coach Tony Elliott said Tuesday.

‘Feels like like it’s a nightmare to be honest with you, and I’m ready for someone to pinch me and wake me up and say that this didn’t happen.’

School officials said in a news release on Wednesday that a decision on the status of Virginia’s final game of the season, a Nov. 26 date against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, has not been made at this time.

Jones, who was on the team as a freshman in 2018 but did not play in any games, is charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony.