3 UVa football players killed in campus shooting honored with posthumous degrees

The three University of Virginia football players who were shot to death last month have been honored with posthumous degrees, school officials said.

D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr. were killed Nov. 13 when a gunman opened fire on a charter bus returning to campus from a class trip to Washington, D.C., to see a play. Two other students were injured and have been released from the hospital.

A suspect, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., was arrested after a manhunt and charged with murder.

The athletes’ posthumous degrees were approved by College of Arts & Sciences departments and the provost’s office.

The degrees were printed and shared with family members as school officials attended each student’s hometown funeral.

Davis, a wide receiver, was a third-year student from Ridgeville, South Carolina, who majored in African American and African studies.

He was set to graduate this month and was a beloved first child and a “role model” to his younger brother and sister, Davis' father, Thaddeus Lavel Davis, has said.

The university's athletics director, Carla Williams, attended Davis' funeral Nov. 30 in North Charleston and said it was obvious in talking with his family “why earning his degree from the University of Virginia was so important to Lavel."

"He worked extremely hard for it," she said.

Chandler, also a wide receiver, was a second-year student from Huntersville, North Carolina, majoring in American studies.

He had joined Virginia’s program after having transferred from the University of Wisconsin.

“He had a lasting impact on his teammates, even after he left UW, which is a testament to the type of person he was,” interim Badgers coach Jim Leonhard said.

Perry, a linebacker, was fourth-year student from Miami. He double majored in studio art and African American and African studies.

His parents, Sean and Happy Perry, said, "Football and art was his passion, but the love that he had for his family, friends and his community was proven time and time again through his candid dedication."

Williams said in a statement Monday, “It was a great honor to be a part of presenting these diplomas to the families of Devin, Lavel and D’Sean.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com