Slain UVA Football Players Named Honorary NFL Draft Picks

KANSAS CITY, MO — Three University of Virginia football players who were killed when a gunman opened fire on their charter bus were recognized by the NFL as honorary draft picks Thursday night.

Minutes before the 2023 draft kicked off at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell dedicated the night's first picks to the players before presenting No. 23 jerseys to their families.

"With the first picks in the 2023 NFL draft, we welcome to the NFL family D'Sean Perry, Lavel Davis and Devin Chandler of the University of Virginia," Goodell said.

Authorities said Perry, a linebacker for the Cavaliers and a South Florida native; Davis, a junior receiver from South Carolina; and Chandler, a junior receiver from North Carolina, were fatally shot by a UVA student on Nov. 13.

The student, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., was charged with three counts of second-degree murder and also faces two charges of malicious wounding for injuring two others.

After the chartered bus pulled to a stop at the Culbreth Garage on UVA's campus and as the students were getting up to exit the bus, Jones pulled out a gun and began firing, the Virginia State Police said in a news release.

According to prosecutors, Jones appeared to be aiming at specific people on the chartered bus and was not randomly shooting.

The bus was returning to Charlottesville after a day trip to Washington, D.C.

Henrico County police arrested Jones the following day, police said.