Virginia bishop mourns loss of life in shooting, decries ongoing violence

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CNS) — The Catholic bishop of Richmond decried the Nov. 13 fatal shooting of three football players at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, urging everyone to pray for the victims, their families and the entire university community.

Once again, the country is mourning “the loss of human lives due to an act of violence,” Bishop Barry C. Knestout said in a Nov. 14 statement.

The university is in the territory covered by the Richmond Diocese.

“Like you, I grieve for the loss of life and my heart breaks for the suffering caused by this troubling act,” he said.

Police said three of the university’s football players, identified as Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, were fatally shot late in the evening on a bus described as being “full of students” that had just returned from a student trip to Washington.

CBS reported that the bus was near a campus parking lot when the shooting occurred and that at about 10:30 p.m., police responded to a call about shots being fired. Besides the three students who were killed, two others were wounded and received treatment.

A suspect whom police identified as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a fellow student, was later taken into custody.

“While we await more details from school and law enforcement officials, let us reflect on how violence permeates the culture in which we live, and our efforts to promote peace within our society,” Bishop Knestout said. “May our Blessed Mother, Queen of Peace, intercede for us.”