PINECREST, FLA. (WSVN) - As the suspect in the deadly shooting at the University of Virginia faced a judge and a community continues to mourn the deaths of three student athletes, those who knew a victim from South Florida opened up about their loss.
D’Sean Perry, a Miami native and a graduate of Gulliver Prep in Pinecrest, is being remembered as a gentle soul and a young man who left a positive impression on the people he met in the community.
Earl Sims, Perry’s Gulliver Prep coach and Michael Haggard, a family friend and attorney, spoke out and shared their grief.
“He was like a son to me,” said Sims. “He was a gentle giant who added value and purpose to my life, as well as others.”
“D’Sean Perry had made it,” said Haggard. “He had made it. He was at one of the greatest schools in the country going to class as a great student-athlete, and this is how the story ends?”
Rose Cannell, a friend of Perry, said she started as a freshman at Gulliver with the victim, and the two of them bonded. She said they both ended up in Virginia for college.
“I think a lot of the Black students at Gulliver kind of did migrate together because I think, for us, it was like a safe space,” she said.
Cannell attends Virginia Tech, located two hours away from UVA.
“He was the most selfless, humble, bubbly, intelligent man that I’ve probably ever met,” she said.
Police said Perry and fellow football players Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler were returning to the Charlottesville campus from a field trip to Washington, D.C., Sunday night, when former football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. opened fire inside their charter bus, killing the three athletes and wounding two other victims.
“We thought he was going to shoot everyone in the bus at that point,” said witness Ryan Lynch.
The arrest affidavit said Chandler was shot as he slept.
“I was shaken to the core, shaken so much that I couldn’t feel the feet under me,” said Sims.
Before becoming another national symbol of gun violence, Perry made his mark on and off the field in South Florida.
Sims, who was a mentor to Perry, reflected on the 22-year-old’s life, how he went from the boy who drove to school every day to the man he grew to be.
“D’Sean was a beautiful flower in our garden at Gulliver, and when he got transplanted to his next school, we knew he was going to continue to grow,” he said, “but, you know, God picked that flower.”
Jones had been invited to join another class to see a play about Emmett Till.
Lynch told The Washington Post that Jones ignored efforts to be included during the play or on the ride home. She described the trip as amazing until just before the end.
“Chris got up and pushed Lavel, and after he pushed him, [Chris] was like, ‘You guys are always messing with me.’ He said something weird like that, but it was very bizarre, ’cause they didn’t talk to him the whole trip,” she said.
After a 12-hour manhunt, Jones was arrested without incident.
In court Wednesday, prosecutors revealed Jones, 22, had been charged for possessing a concealed weapon in 2021 and was the subject of a UVA investigation regarding a threat made involving a weapon.
“When is enough going to be enough in this country?” said family friend and attorney Michael Haggard.
Jones was denied bond.
On Tuesday, Perry’s parents, Sean and Happy Perry, flew to Virginia to retrieve his body.
“They are in a deep moment of despair. They got to see him yesterday, which was extremely awful for them,” said Haggard.
The Perrys released a statement as they prepare to bring their son home.
It read in part, “He was a loving, giving, caring, God-fearing young man who was full of life and potential, who made his family proud … we truly appreciate the outpouring of love and support from so many people…”
“He will truly be missed, but we’ll make sure his legacy lives on,” said Sims.
In light of the tragedy, UVA’s football team opted not to play their last home game on Saturday.
Perry’s parents were expected to bring their son’s body back to South Florida by Wednesday night. They said they have pledged to spend their time working to combat gun violence.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.