One University of Virginia student is sharing her experience sheltering-in-place after three of the school’s football players were shot and killed and two others were injured during a shooting on campus. The suspect, a University of Virgina student, is in custody.
On Sunday, Nov. 13, at 10:31 p.m., gunfire rang out on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville, Virginia. Shortly after, students were sent alerts, ordering them to “shelter in place” and “RUN HIDE FIGHT” as authorities searched for the suspected gunman.
Joely Donovan, a third-year student from Florida, was returning to her sorority house after attending a friend's birthday dinner when she started receiving notifications.
"We get a lot of updates from the school when something is going on in the community, so I got that initial alert and didn't think much of it," Joely told TODAY Parents. "Pretty soon we started getting more updates and hearing rumors from people that it was serious, on campus, and students were involved. I realized we were going into lockdown."
Joely and seven of her sorority sisters quickly turned off all the lights in the house, made sure all the doors were locked, then stayed together in one room and barricaded the door.
Then she started to text her parents.
"We were actually visiting her that weekend and had already landed back in Florida," Lisa Donovan, Joely's mom, told TODAY. "About an hour after we got home — around 11 p.m. — we got the initial messages, which were short and more action oriented, like: 'Hey, there's an active shooter. We're upstairs. We're locking ourselves in.' You know, you do a quick check on how they're doing and then you just check all the boxes of things they need to get done without any experience doing it yourself."
Lisa said her initial goal was to help her daughter "feel confident, try to keep the panic low and make good decisions," but not being able to be there with her daughter was "very difficult."
"There's nothing you can do to physically help, so all you can control in that moment is what you're doing and the decisions you're making and just letting them know that you care about them, you love them and you're there for them," the mom of three added.
Lisa and her husband, Bill, started to scour social media and listened to police scanners, trying to help Joely decipher fact from rumor.
On the floor of her sorority house more than 800 miles away, Joely was doing the same.
"The biggest thing for me was just not knowing what was going on," Joely said. "We stayed up all night trying to listen to police scanners and getting information from social channels because no one knew what was going on. It was this mass panic."
At around 4 a.m., Joely said she was finally able to fall asleep.
On Monday, Nov. 14, the shelter in place order was lifted at 10:33 a.m. After the hours-long manhunt, authorities took the alleged shooter into custody. Joely said that even after the order was lifted, she "didn't feel entirely safe" and "didn't know if I should go outside."
The 20-year-old also shared that she was devastated to learn that three of her fellow students had been killed and two others had been injured.
I’m thinking about the (football) team. About those families. It’s affecting people and I’m seeing it.”
joely donovan, uva student
Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry — all University of Virginia football players — were killed.
The University has not yet released the names of the two students injured. According to University President Jim Ryan, one is in "good" condition and the other is in "critical" condition.
"You don't even think about your own feelings when you have friends who knew the victims," Joely said. "I'm just trying to be there for them anyway I can. I'm thinking about the (football) team. About those families. It's affecting people and I'm seeing it."
Joely said that while it's hard to think about returning to class, she does not want to leave the campus.
Joely, who is double majoring in anthropology and cognitive science, added that while she doesn't know exactly how long it will take for her to process what happened, she knows it will take time as this is not the first act of gun violence she has endured.
In high school, she experienced another active shooter situation that forced her to shelter-in-place in her classroom.
"You hear about it and you think it won't happen to you, and if it does you don't think you'll have to see something like that again," Joely said. "To realize that I was in a similar position is shocking and overwhelming. I mean, I knew what I could use to barricade a door and to make sure not to sit too close to the windows — things I shouldn't have to know but do because I've lived it before."
"This time around I was lucky to be in a safe environment where I felt I was going to be OK," she added. "I know a lot of people didn't feel like that. It's hard to think about the experience my peers are having."
Lisa said that to have this happen to her child twice is "heartbreaking."
"I do know that our kids are more resilient than I ever could have imagined, but you don't want them to be," she added. "You don't want your children to have to go through this."
Gun violence is impacting our kids and our communities again and again. We are not doing right by our kids or each other.”
lisa donovan, mom of three
"Gun violence is impacting our kids and our communities again and again," Lisa, who lives with her husband in Central Florida, said. "We are not doing right by our kids or each other."
Lisa also added that her family's "highest sympathies" are for the victims and their loved ones, and their hearts ache for all of the students who "hid, terrified, for so long."
"Our story is not solely ours," she added.
On Monday night, University of Virginia students, faculty and staff came together to honor of the three students who were shot and killed.
"These families face the unimaginable," Lisa said. "Our thoughts are with them and with all of the University of Virginia community."
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