UVA to release long-delayed report on 2022 campus shooting

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by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury
February 19, 2025

After months of postponements, the University of Virginia announced Wednesday that it will release findings from an external review of the deadly 2022 campus shooting by mid-March. The decision follows a prosecutor’s withdrawal of concerns that the report could impact the ongoing criminal case.

The report examines the events surrounding the Nov. 13, 2022, attack that left three UVA students dead and two others injured.

Initially set for release in November 2023, and then pushed to February 2024, the findings were withheld as legal proceedings moved forward against Christopher Jones Jr., who has since pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of malicious wounding, and five firearms charges. His sentencing has been delayed until later this year.

Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, criticized the delays, arguing that attorney-client privilege and student record protections did not apply to the entire report.

“It’s good news that we are finally going to get to see these reports,” Rhyne said, “but I still stand by my position that the report should have been released back in the fall of 2023 when it first came out because I don’t think the reasons for why they couldn’t didn’t apply. To the redactions, maybe, but not to the whole report.”

Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingeley is leading the prosecution against Jones Jr., a former UVA football player who admitted to shooting five students on a bus returning to campus from a Washington, D.C. field trip.

The attack claimed the lives of three UVA football players — Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry — while two others, teammate Mike Hollins and second-year student Marlee Morgan, were wounded but survived.

Following the tragedy, UVA requested the Virginia Attorney General engage with special counsel to evaluate the university’s response, its prior assessments of Jones as a potential threat, and its overall policies and procedures. The review also aimed to provide recommendations for future improvements.

However, after the report was completed, UVA officials withheld its release, citing concerns that it could impact the criminal trial.

Correction: This story was updated to correct that UVA’s was to the Virginia Attorney General and not the Commonwealth’s Attorney in 2022.

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