Three University of Virginia football players are confirmed dead following a horrific and tragic shooting on campus in Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday.
During a news conference on Monday, University of Virginia president Jim Ryan said junior defensive end D'Sean Perry and junior wide receivers Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler were shot and killed, with two others wounded, on a charter bus as students returned to campus from a field trip on Sunday.
The suspect, identified as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, has been taken into custody, police said. Jones was a running back on the 2018 roster, but did not appear on the roster in any season to follow.
Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi opened his weekly press conference by addressing the incident, as the Panthers returned home late Saturday evening from facing the Cavaliers. Perry registered a pair of tackles in Saturday's game.
"Last evening, some things happened down in (Charlottesville) that, you know -- about 10:30," Narduzzi said. "We met with our guys last night at 7:10 and then probably until 8:30, and just think, they probably did something very similar to what we did in our meeting. They let the guys have dinner and probably rolled out of there. What happened after that, I don't know, but I'm shocked, obviously. Don't even care to talk about that game. Just put it aside. I'll answer any questions afterwards if you have to, but our hearts and prayers go out to the city of (Charlottesville), the University of Virginia, coach Tony Elliott, and his football team that's got to be going through it right now.
"I can't imagine losing three guys in the room here, and can't even imagine what's going on down there. It's unthinkable. You go from playing a football game to that, so, again, our prayers go out to everybody down there that's involved in this, and it's sad."
Pat Narduzzi opens his press conference by talking about the situation at Virginia. #Pitt pic.twitter.com/LuU7EYIr8S
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) November 14, 2022
Pitt is coming off of a 37-7 victory over the Cavaliers, which was stamped an unprecedented pair of pick-sixes by Pitt's M.J. Devonshire and Marquis Williams on Virginia's first two plays from scrimmage. The offense followed by scoring touchdowns on its first two drives, resulting in a 28-0 Pitt lead with 2:33 left in the opening quarter.
But for as dominant as the Panthers played on Saturday, none of the discussion from Narduzzi on Monday came regarding the game. He took the first third of his time at the lectern inside the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex to put football versus life back into perspective:
"We talk about it all the time," he said, "it's more than just football. It's your faith, it's family, and football, with football being last. When you see something like that happen, we know it happens a lot more. I mean, the school shootings, wherever it is, in Texas, Florida, right here at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, and then you've just got done playing a football team. The Davis kid, the big, tall wideout that didn't play, I remember seeing him right after the game and shaking his hand and saying, 'hey, get healthy.' It's just -- it puts things in perspective."
Narduzzi said he hasn't spoken to the team about the incident, as of early Monday afternoon, though he said he spoke to a few players individually about it. He plans to address the team about the matter on Tuesday.
