UVA coach says team beginning healing process

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- First-year Virginia shot manager Tony Elliott knows determination is nary manual oregon playbook to assistance him woody with what his squad is facing.

On Sunday night, 3 of his players were changeable and killed and 2 others were wounded connected a charter autobus aft students returned to field from a tract travel successful Washington, D.C.

"It feels similar it's a nightmare, to beryllium honorable with you, and I'm acceptable for idiosyncratic to pinch maine and aftermath maine up and accidental that this didn't happen," Elliott said during a quality league Tuesday.

Junior receiver Lavel Davis Jr. of Dorchester, South Carolina; inferior receiver Devin Chandler of Huntersville, North Carolina; and inferior antiaircraft end/linebacker D'Sean Perry of Miami were killed. Running backmost Mike Hollins of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is hospitalized aft being changeable successful the back.

"You hole for this job, [but] determination is nary section connected thing similar this," said Elliott, a erstwhile Clemson violative coordinator. "So I americium conscionable trying to fig retired however to beryllium beardown for these young men."

Elliott acknowledged it hasn't been easy.

"The archetypal gathering was really, truly ..." Elliott said, earlier warring backmost his emotions. "Really tough."

Elliott said his absorption has been connected helping his players woody with the shocking nonaccomplishment of 3 teammates. He has worked to guarantee that the victims' families person everything they need. He visited Hollins successful the infirmary connected Tuesday.

"The champion coping mechanics for maine is the young men," Elliott said. "To spot their pain, to spot their hurt, it inspires maine to support pushing forward."

Athletic manager Carla Williams said the Cavaliers haven't yet decided whether they volition play Saturday's location crippled against Coastal Carolina. She said a determination would beryllium made soon.

"We'll marque it together," Williams said. "It volition beryllium a treatment with Coach [Elliott] and the team. Obviously, they're going done a lot, and we privation to marque definite they're progressive arsenic well. We'll usage our champion judgment, but it volition beryllium soon. We'll marque a determination soon."

A candlelight vigil was held astatine Westminster Presbyterian Church connected Tuesday night, arsenic good arsenic a "Service for Justice and Peace'' astatine University Baptist Church successful Charlottesville.

The suspected shooter is erstwhile Virginia shot subordinate Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who was arrested by constabulary Monday.

Jones, 22, was transferred to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail connected Tuesday from a installation successful Henrico County, Virginia, wherever helium had been arrested without incidental the time before. He was being held without bail connected 3 felony charges of second-degree execution and firearm usage successful the committee of a felony. Additionally, Jones faces 2 counts of malicious wounding and further gun-related charges, Albemarle Commonwealth's Attorney James Hingeley told The Associated Press.

"You hole for this job, [but] determination is nary section connected thing similar this. So I americium conscionable trying to fig retired however to beryllium beardown for these young men." Virginia shot manager Tony Elliott

Jones is scheduled for a enslaved proceeding astatine 9 a.m. ET connected Wednesday, via videoconference.

The 22-year-old joined a radical of astir 2 twelve others connected a tract travel Sunday from the Charlottesville field to spot a play successful the nation's capital, astir 120 miles away. When their autobus arrived backmost connected campus, Jones opened fire.

Ryan Lynch, a 19-year-old sophomore pupil connected the trip, told The Washington Post that Jones sat successful the backmost of the autobus alone. Lynch added to Philadelphia TV presumption KYW that the fishy pulled retired a weapon arsenic they arrived backmost and pushed 1 of the now-deceased shot players, stating: "You guys are ever messing with me.''

"They conscionable kept coming, much and much gunshots -- conscionable wouldn't stop,'' Lynch said of the shooting, adding the gunman past "just benignant of walked oregon skipped disconnected the bus.''

Hollins' household has said that helium is 1 of the hospitalized victims.

Gordon McKernan, a spokesperson for the Hollins family, told ESPN that Hollins had exigency country connected Sunday nighttime to region a slug from his stomach. Doctors performed a 2nd country to cheque for interior injuries and were encouraged by what they found, according to McKernan.

McKernan said doctors removed Hollins from a ventilator aft the 2nd surgery.

A University of Virginia authoritative confirmed to ESPN connected Tuesday that the different pupil who survived was a pistillate and a non-athlete who is considered to beryllium successful bully condition.

Jones was a walk-on subordinate of the Virginia shot squad successful the autumn of 2018. He had a preexisting lower-body wounded erstwhile helium arrived connected campus, according to erstwhile Cavaliers manager Bronco Mendenhall, and was incapable to signifier oregon play successful a game. Jones near the squad the adjacent semester, according to Mendenhall.

Mendenhall, who coached the Cavaliers from 2016 to 2021, didn't callback Jones having immoderate disciplinary issues successful his abbreviated clip with the team.

"It doesn't marque consciousness to me," Mendenhall said. "I cognize helium remained a UVA student. But I don't person immoderate different knowing of it. He was a classmate of these guys and determination were different players successful the aforesaid class, truthful I conscionable don't recognize it. I privation I could supply much insight, but his clip with the programme was truthful abbreviated and truthful agelong ago. There was ne'er thing that came crossed my table with immoderate subject oregon behaviour issues. And with being wounded the full time, helium wasn't truly integrated into the programme successful that 1 semester."

Jones drew the attraction of the university's threat-assessment squad this autumn successful the discourse of a "potential hazing issue,'' the assemblage said successful a statement. During that review, assemblage officials heard from a pupil that Jones commented astir having a gun, though that pupil did not study Jones making immoderate threat, the connection said.

University officials investigated and ended up discovering Jones had antecedently been tried and convicted of a misdemeanor concealed weapons usurpation successful 2021, which helium had failed to report, according to the statement. The schoolhouse initially said it "escalated his lawsuit for disciplinary action" connected Oct. 27. But a spokesman, Brian Coy, revised the timeline Tuesday night. He said that apt owed to either a quality oregon method error, the study had not really been transmitted to the University Judiciary Committee, a student-run body.

The assemblage said successful a connection it was moving to close the error.

Classes astatine Virginia are expected to resume Wednesday, but undergrads volition not beryllium required to implicit immoderate graded assignments oregon instrumentality exams earlier Thanksgiving break.

ESPN's David Hale and The Associated Press contributed to this report.