A young football star from Miami was one of three players killed in a shooting at the University of Virginia Sunday night. NBC 6’s Alyssa Hyman reports
A young football star from Miami was one of three players killed in a shooting at the University of Virginia Sunday night, officials said.
D'Sean Perry, a linebacker and defensive end for the UVA football team, was killed in the shooting, the university's president, Jim Ryan, confirmed Monday morning.
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Perry, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound junior, was from Miami and had attended Gulliver Prep.
"The loss of D'Sean is felt very deeply in our community. He was a frequent presence on campus after graduation giving back through mentoring our students in the classroom and on the football field," Gulliver President Cliff Kling said in a statement. "The Gulliver family mourns, and our thoughts and prayers are with D'Sean's parents, his sister, D'Shandra, Gulliver class of 2021, and his entire family."
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He was named the South Florida Conference’s 2018 Defensive Player of the Year his senior year at Gulliver.
"D'Sean was an amazing soul that made his family and community proud," Gulliver head football coach Earl Sims said in a statement. "His high moral character and integrity spoke volumes about the young man he was becoming. His presence was rich and made every encounter worthwhile."
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Perry's parents released a statement through their attorney Monday.
"On behalf of D’Sean's parents, Happy and Sean Perry, and their entire family, we thank the South Florida and Charlottesville communities for the outpouring of support during this impossibly tragic time," the statement read. "Right now, Happy and Sean will not speak publicly about the incident as their grief is only beginning, and out of respect for the University of Virginia community which has been terrorized by another mass shooting in the United States."
Perry played in 15 games over three seasons at UVA, and appeared in the team's 37-7 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Also killed in the shooting were fellow football players Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis, Ryan said.
"This is an unimaginably sad day for our community," Ryan said.
The Sunday night shooting left three people dead and at least two others injured, and sparked a manhunt for the suspect, believed to be a former UVA football player.
Gunfire was initially reported at a parking garage on Culbreth Road, near the school's drama building, at around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, the University of Virginia Office of Emergency Management said in a tweet.
Ryan said the shooting happened on a bus full of students that was returning from a field trip.
Authorities said they were looking for Christopher Darnell Jones in connection with the deadly shooting.
"Call 911 if seen, do not approach," the University of Virginia Police Department warned in a tweet, sharing a photo of Jones.
The same photo appears on a profile for Jones in a 2018 football roster shared on the official website for the Virginia Cavaliers. The profile said Jones did not appear in any games that year.
He did not appear on the Cavalier's roster in any following season.
Jones was eventually taken into custody, officials said Monday morning. He faces multiple murder charges.
