The awful Monday that we all lived through started for me late Sunday night, when my wife saw a post on Facebook from UVA President Jim Ryan about a shooting on Grounds.
She asked me if we should post anything.
I didn’t think we had enough information at the moment, so we held off, and because we had a couple of early-morning items on the schedule, headed off to bed.
My colleague for the past 15 years, Scott German, called first thing in the morning, but I missed the call.
When he called again, it was a sign something was up.
I could tell from his voice that he was in tears.
He broke the news to me that had been broken to him.
You know by now. Three UVA Football players – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry – were dead, and a fourth, Mike Hollins, had also been shot, and his status at the outset wasn’t clear.
Text messages from fellow UVA alums and emails from all over started to flood in.
Everybody I was hearing from was devastated at the news.
So was I.
I’m supposed to be this grizzled news reporter, but I was numb.
The hard part for me is that reporting on what’s going on in the world, great, good, bad and awful, is my job.
I’m sitting here at the end of the night, nearing midnight, and I’m still numb, like most of you are, and probably will be for a while.
Most of us weren’t fortunate enough to get to know the victims. I can tell you that I’d interviewed Lavel a few times, most memorably, to me, when he talked with me about how excited he was that Tony Elliott had been named the new head coach, after Bronco Mendenhall had stepped down last December.
But even though I’d talked with him, I didn’t know him.
The people who knew Lavel, and knew Devin and D’Sean, I’d learn, as the morning became afternoon, then evening, would tell us what great kids they were outside of football, which is so unimportant now, that they played football.
Lavel was involved with the Groundskeepers, a social-justice group formed by UVA Football players and assistant coach Marques Hagans in 2020 in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer, and hoped through the Groundskeepers that he could help UVA move the cause of social and racial justice forward.
Devin was a transfer from Wisconsin who was obviously a good student, to be able to earn admission to both Wisconsin and Virginia, and even better person, from all accounts.
Perry, a Miami native, has been the subject of numerous similar glowing stories.
And then Hollins, according to his father, was set to graduate a semester early with a double major, and was planning to use his final year of eligibility next year to begin work on a master’s degree.
Smart kids, all, who just happened to be good at the football thing.
I love being able to tell fellow UVA alums who ask about my job and my opportunities to interact with student-athletes at the alma mater how proud they’d be to talk with the kids that I get to talk with.
All four are exemplars of the student-athlete model at the University of Virginia.
I was eventually able to get to work. Not trying to make myself a hero there. We all have jobs to do.
The hardest part to the day was feeling the need to report on the shooter, Chris Jones, who as it turns out is a former UVA Football player.
Jones is a former walk-on who was a member of the team for a single year, as a first-year student in 2018.
His family and friends have been painting a picture of a young man with a difficult upbringing who apparently felt he was being bullied in his time on Grounds.
Media outlets have been running with this angle, implying that this is a possible motive, without going into detail about who would have been bullying Jones, if he was even being bullied.
Writing about that side of the story is uncomfortable, as uncomfortable as it is for people to read it – that much is obvious from social media, which not surprisingly is taking out its pitchforks at those reporters, including me, who are diving into this side of what happened.
As unfun as it is to get pilloried for just doing your job, the part of the day that has sucked the most is thinking about the three young kids whose lives were senselessly cut short, the 20 or so of their classmates who had to witness it and will never have a day pass where they can’t unsee what they saw last night, the police and emergency and hospital personnel who had to try to do what they could to save people who were unfortunately beyond saving, the family and friends who are missing the lights of their lives, and a UVA community that is again grieving an unspeakable tragedy.
My main concern, as I stated in an article that I wrote earlier in the day, is that people who are having a hard time processing the events of today feel empowered to reach out for help.
If you’re struggling with emotional distress, or know someone who is, the Disaster Distress Helpline is available by calling or texting 1-800-985-5990.
Caring counselors are available at the helpline 24/7.
There is no shame in crying today, the next few days, however long it takes.
We’re all numb inside right now, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Look out for yourself here, and also, please, look out for your loved ones.
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Chris Graham
