UVA Campus Shooting Survivor Says He Felt 'Hopeless and Powerless' When Gunman Opened Fire on Bus

On Good Morning America, Mike Hollins also said the alleged shooter had a 'cold look' in his eyes

Photo: GMA

Mike Hollins, a University of Virginia football player who was wounded in the Nov. 13 shooting that killed three of his teammates, has opened up on Good Morning America about the horror of that day.

Hollins, a running back on the team, said when the charter bus he was on began pulling into the parking garage after a field trip to Washington D.C., he heard gunfire and immediately jumped off the bus with a teammate beside him.

But when Hollins looked back toward the bus, he realized no one else was following them. "I turned back and I look over my shoulder, and I realize we're the only two running. I didn't really think much in that moment. It was just literally an instinct and a reaction to go back."

Hollins said he "locked eyes" with the alleged shooter, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a student at the school, and that Jones had a "cold look" on his face but didn't speak. Hollins also remembered feeling "hopeless and powerless" in that moment.

Hollins was shot in the back as he began running again. "I think I got hit in the small intestine, kidney, and they were trying to see if it damaged my bladder," Hollins said on GMA. "By the grace of God, it missed my spine by like, two centimeters or something like that."

He survived thanks to surgery and the support of family, and says the shooting, which allegedly targeted specific people from the team, changed the way he sees life. "I've never been as vulnerable or emotional, but now it's like, I don't really care, I can't control it," Hollins said on the TV show. "I'm not afraid to tell my friends and my teammates 'I love you' and 'Looking forward to seeing you again,' and really meaning it now."

Jones allegedly shot and killed 22-year-old D'Sean Perry, a linebacker and defensive end, and Devin Chandler, a junior wide receiver on the team, as well as Lavel Davis Jr., a junior wide receiver. Perry and Chandler died at the scene, and Davis died at the hospital.

D'Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler. Virginia Sports (3)

Soon after the shooting, University of Virginia Police Chief Timothy Longo said that Jones had come "to the attention" of the university's threat assessment team in the past.

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"I want to be transparent with you," Longo told reporters, adding that a third-party individual brought to the university's attention that Jones was in possession of a gun.

Longo said Jones also had a prior incident involving a weapon in February 2021, but allegedly had not reported the incident to the school as he should have.

Jones was arrested on Nov. 14 about 75 miles southwest of the UVA campus in Charlottesville. He now faces three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun to commit a felony.