UVA student gives harrowing eyewitness account of shooting that took lives of three Virginia football players

As the days unwind since the insidious shooting that left three Virginia football players dead, specifics of the incident have come into focus. One UVA student — Ryan Lynch — who was on the bus when the shooting began spoke with ABC News and shared her account.

In an emotional interview, Lynch recounted how there wasn’t much seemingly amiss prior to the shooting. The class trip to see a show on stage was just wrapping up as the tour bus pulled up to Culbreth Theater on the Virginia campus. Lynch was grabbing her things when the shooting began. At first, she wasn’t sure if the sound was just a bag of chips popping or something else benign — then smoke filled the bus and the smell of sulfur hit her nose.

“And then after, I would say, the fourth gunshot, there was a cloud of smoke that filled the bus. And after I smelled that, even though I couldn’t see anything going on in the back, I knew there was something really bad happening,” Lynch said.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

She and a friend sitting across the aisle took cover on the ground beneath their feet, wedged between rows of bus seats. Lynch said she put her coat and a blanket over herself to be out of sight.

But she left her eyes uncovered.

“So I could just see if anyone was going through the aisles or what — trying to see what was going on because I was just so confused, there was so much chaos. I was told that there was screaming but all I heard was the gunshots and my ears were ringing. And then it just kept getting closer, the sound of the shots kept creeping up the aisle and I saw the shooter pass me and he passed me very slowly so I was scared that, with all of the shots that were fired, he had shot everyone on the bus. I thought he was going to shoot me, too, and I just sat there, quiet, still, didn’t say anything and thank goodness he just passed me and went off the bus. And then he shot into the air again when he got off. So there was just so many shots going on everywhere,” Lynch said.

Eventually, Lynch heard her professor yelling for everyone to get off the bus.

As she finally emerged from the floor and started to clamber out with her friend, that’s when Lynch saw Lavel Davis Jr. — one of the three Virginia football players killed — laying in the bus aisle, shot.

“And I — it was absolutely devastating to see him laying down. And my friend who was sitting across from me said we have to try to help him and we’re both CPR certified, so she checked his pulse and it was very faint and I was checking his body and he had gunshots. I saw one in his head, I saw one in his back. It looked like they were all over him. He had on a bright orange sweatshirt so you could see all of where the gunshots had hit him. And so we just told him that we were going to try to do CPR but then I realized that you can’t move a victim after they’ve been shot like that, because we didn’t want to hurt him any more. So, we said to him, ‘Vel, we’re trying to help you, we’re going to get help for you, there’s nothing we can do right now but we’re going to get help for you.'”

Davis was one of three Virginia football players killed. Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry also died after being shot on Sunday. A fourth Virginia football player, Mike Hollins, is in the hospital and expected to recover after also being shot.

Lynch, who was in the class with Davis, Chandler and Perry, remembered how genuine and kind they were.

And she was glad she and her friend were there for Davis, and others on the bus were there for Chandler and Perry.

“He was amazing and I was just so happy my friend and I were able to tell him we were trying to help him,” Lynch said. “And every single one of the guys. there was someone on that bus who tried to help them before we had to get off. So I just want their families to know someone was with them, one of us was with them after they were shot. And we loved them so much. They were so genuine. And then I was also very close with Devin and D’Sean. We all sat next to each other in class. I mean, each one them was just amazing. And I’m so heartbroken for them and their families. But I just really want people to know they were really one of a kind and they will be really missed in our class and by everyone that knew them.”