University Of Virginia Football Players Killed In Bus Shooting Mourned By Community

Sean Lampkin, a football coach at Newberry College, said Davis was his cousin and that the family was “devastated” by the loss. “God took one of his most kind, humble, loving soldiers off of the battlefield last night,” Lampkin tweeted.

Chandler was a second-year student and a wide receiver and kickoff returner on the team. He transferred to UVA last semester from the University of Wisconsin. Jim Leonhard, interim coach of the Wisconsin Badgers, said he was “shocked and saddened” by news of Chandler’s death.

“He had a lasting impact on his teammates, even after he left UW, which is a testament to the type of person he was,” Leonhard said in a statement. “His personality was infectious and he was a joy to be around.”

Last semester, after he transferred, Chandler also took a class taught by Hamilton. The professor said Chandler “made a point to come to my office hours repeatedly, often just to ask questions about how things worked around UVA.”

“Later I helped him declare his American Studies major, which he was really excited about,” Hamilton said. “He was an unbelievably nice person, always a huge smile, really gregarious and funny. One of those people who’s just impossible not to like.”

Chandler’s high school football coach, Matt Jenkins, told the Charlotte Observer through tears of the “great young man” he so fondly remembered.

“He was a joy to coach and he had an infectious smile,” Jenkins said. “He brought great energy every day. He was a wonderful student and he was a heck of a football player, but that’s the least important of all of them.

“He’ll be missed,” Jenkins added. “He was going to make this place better.”

Perry was a fourth-year student and a linebacker. According to his profile on the team website, he was a studio art major.

In a statement from the family released by their attorneys, Perry’s parents expressed their thanks “for the outpouring of support during this impossibly tragic time.”

“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,” the statement said.

Perry, who was from Miami, was a graduate of Gulliver Prep. The high school’s president, Cliff King, expressed condolences to Perry’s family in a statement shared with NBC Miami.