On November 13, the first anniversary of the tragic shooting deaths on Grounds of three UVA student-athletes, the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy hosted a community gathering focused on individual and community recovery in the aftermath of gun violence.
Hundreds of people attended the event in Old Cabell Hall to hear the stories of five guest speakers, all of whom have been personally impacted by gun violence. One of them was Happy Perry, the mother of D’Sean Perry, who was shot and killed last year, along with classmates and fellow football players Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis, Jr., by another UVA student after returning from a class field trip to Washington, D.C.
Among the event attendees were family and friends of the three students, as well as UVA President Jim Ryan, UVA Provost Ian Baucom, UVA Athletic Director Carla Williams and UVA Football Coach Tony Elliott. The event was the idea of Brian N. Williams, professor of practice at the Batten School, who knew the three players, and mentored Davis Jr. in his Public Engagement in Governance Looking, Listening & Learning Laboratory.
> Watch a recording of the event
> Read some of the news coverage
Though sharing a common sense of loss and grief due to gun violence, the speakers each reflected on their personal and ongoing journey of healing.
Happy Perry is the mother of D’Sean Perry, one of the UVA students who were killed last year. She continues to fight against gun violence, and the Perry family has established the D’Sean Emir Perry Spirit of the Cavaliers Foundation to support community causes important to D’Sean.
A’Dorian Murray-Thomas is founder and CEO of SHE Wins, Inc., a leadership and mentoring organization for women and girls who have lost a loved one to gun violence. Her father was killed when she was a young girl. Murray-Thomas is the youngest woman, at 23, elected to the Newark, NJ Board of Education. She is currently a candidate for a Master of Divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary.
Tracy Walls graduated from the University of Georgia, where, as an engaged student-athlete, she played on the 1996 SEC Championship women’s basketball team. She has spent more than 20 years teaching and working in school administration and is an adjunct professor at Tennessee State University. In 2021, she lost her eldest son, Edgar J. Utley, to gun violence.
Kevin Parker is a former member state legislator in Washington State, an entrepreneur and a leadership instructor for undergraduates and MBA students and members of the Armed Services. He is a survivor of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting and travels internationally sharing lessons learned from the tragedy.
Denzell Brown is a Washington DC native and alumni of Georgetown University who lost his brother to gun violence. In 2021, he founded the Brave Behind the Bullet Initiative which aims to bring together Black parents in DC and Baltimore who have lost a child to gun violence, understand their lived experiences, and connects them with opportunities for reconciliation and empowerment. Brown is currently a doctoral student in counseling psychology at Howard University
Moderating the panel was Frank Dukes, a seasoned facilitator with UVA’s Institute for Engagement & Negotiation, Dukes founded the University & Community Action for Racial Equity to address UVA’s legacy of slavery and white supremacy. He currently chairs the board of the nonprofit anti-hate group, Not In Our Town.
