UVA Shooting Survivor Mike Hollins Opens Up About How School Field Trip Went From Gospel Singing To Fatal Shots Fired On Campus

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Mike Hollins, a survivor of the University of Virginia campus shooting, speaks out for the first time about how a school field trip went from his classmates singing gospel songs on the bus to gunshots ringing out as they pulled in, killing several of his football teammates, as well as being shot himself. Hear his heroic story inside…

Imagine having an amazing time on a field trip with one of your football teammates, who begged you to go on the trip, only for the night to end with your teammate being murdered in cold blood on the bus returning from the trip. Unfortunately, that’s the reality for UVA campus shooting survivor Mike Hollins.

Mike Hollins, a University of Virginia football player who was shot in the shooting that killed three of his teammates, is speaking out for the first time about the November 13th shooting on UVA’s campus. Suspected shooter, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, opened fire on a charter bus returning from a field trip where he targeted specific victims, many of whom were football players.

Junior receiver Lavel Davis Jr. of Dorchester, South Carolina, junior defensive end/linebacker D’Sean Perry of Miami, and junior wide receiver Devin Chandler of Virginia Beach, VA, were killed. Running back Mike Hollins of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was hospitalized after being shot in the back.

A month later, Mike Hollins is sharing the chilling details of the shooting that took the lives of his brothers on a new episode of “The Pivot Podcast.” The story hits home for co-host/former NFLer Ryan Clark, as his son is friends with the UVA football player.

Mike, who was released from the hospital a few weeks ago, shared that his football teammate D’Sean Perry begged him to go on a class trip to Washington, D.C. to see a play about Emmett Till. A space opened up right before the class was scheduled to go on the trip, so Mike decided to attend. He said he was really glad he went, because he had a good time, and it was his first time being in D.C.

After the play, the class went to a restaurant to eat Ethiopian food and then they got back on the bus to head back to Charlottesville.

”It was a good time. It’s hard to think about that..in hindsight…on this end of the tragedy,” he said on a new episode of “The Pivot Podcast.”

“It’s hard to think about the important times we had before. Great play. Great dinner. The kids singing gospel. My classmates. They weren’t my classmates, but by the end of the trip, I became a part of the class, I became a part of the family because like I said, I just had slipped into that field trip on accident really,” he shared.

Tragically, the day took a turn for the worse when they pulled up to the school.

”Soon as we were about to stop, I just heard gunshots,” Mike said.

 

 

After shots rang out, he said he saw Lavel, wearing a bright orange hoodie, fall and then Chris “standing over Lavel. You know, just, overkill.”

Shocked and confused, he pushed pass the teacher and other students, and ran off the bus.

“It felt like a dream, honestly,” he shared. “In that moment knowing all my teammates are at the back [of the bus] and all I see is….I can only see Lavel with his orang hoodie on. I just saw him on the ground. I just saw overkill. I didn’t know why. I just couldn’t really think straight in that moment,” he said.

Once he got the bus driver to stop the bus, he ran off the bus with one other teammate. Once he realized his friend D’Sean hadn’t gotten off the bus, he went back.

”In that moment, it was a reaction. And I went back to Get my brothers off. Get my classmates off. See what was going on. I don’t really know in that moment. I knew I was headed back to that bus.”

 

 

He said he turned around and took two or three steps and he saw Chris with the gun in his hand.

”At that moment, we locked eyes and I couldn’t really, I just felt so hopeless in that moment. Just so, I can’t really explain it. It felt like he had all the power in that moment,” he shared.

The heroic UVA football player said he felt Chris shoot him in the back, and he took off running. He ran through a parking garage, where he found a pre-med student at the bottom of the parking garage and she kept him calm until the paramedics came.

He said he woke up two and a half days later with 36 staples and a tube in his throat with “no answers to anything.” That’s when he found out which of his football teammates didn’t make it out alive.

During the conversation, Mike talked about his close relationship with D’Sean Perry and how hurt he was when he found out that he had been killed. He said the tragedy has caused him to show his emotions more and let his friends and family know how much he cares about them. The tragedy has caused him to grow up fast.

”I know I will continue to grow, but right now, it’s so it’s still kind of fresh. The growth is tough and painful right now,” he shared.

Mike said talking to the families of the teammates he lost is “hard,” but “refreshing every time because they’re so strong.”

”Just seeing their strength…just seeing my mom, D’Sean’s mom, Lavel’s mom, and Devin’s [mom]…just seeing those black women come together in this tragedy is awesome, but for these circumstances it kind of sucks.”

When he’s emotional and feeling moody, he said talking to his family helps him.

You can watch Mike Hollins’ full account of what happened and the aftermath on “The Pivot Podcast” below:

Also…

 

 

Mike Hollins also appeared on “Good Morning America,” where he spoke to co-anchor/former NFLer Michael Strahan about the suspected shooter. He said he didn’t know Chris and that he was “normal” earlier in the day.

“I had saw him that morning before we got on the bus,” Mike said. “He was looking normal to me.”

During his shooting spree, he said Chris had a “cold look” and that the suspected shooter said “nothing at all” to him. “It was, I don’t know, it was just like a numb look.”

Watch the clip above.

Yesterday….

 

 

Mike celebrated his 22nd birthday! His mother, Brenda Hollins, took to Twitter to celebrate her son and thank God for allowing him to still be here.

 

 

As for Mike’s interviews…

 

 

ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark blasted “GMA” for violating an agreement they made with him about the release of Mike’s interview.

 

“I thought a show like @GMA would operate with integrity since they have fooled us into thinking thy [sic] care about things like truth,” Clark tweeted (then deleted) Thursday morning. “After what GMA producer did this morning I now know that’s false. Schemed, stole, & lied all to be first. Long as you win right? It’s crazy that @GMA manipulated a young man & mother that have been through so much. We are so grateful Mike Hollins & his mother Brenda trusted us to sit down with him first. Still, @thepivot can stand on delivering every promise we made to their family.”

He later tweeted, “It’s crazy that @JennLeongABC & @GMA manipulated a young man & mother that have been through so much. We are so grateful Mike Hollins & his mother Brenda trusted us to sit down with him first. Still, @thepivot can stand on delivering every promise we made to their family.”

 

 

”What was wrong with the interview with Strahan? What am I missing?,” a fan tweeted.

 

 

”Stray is a friend,” Ryan responded. “I know @michaelstrahan has a job to do. This is not on him. I want Mike Hollin’s story to be heard. I was excited that @GMA piggy backed our plans to get his interview done earlier than they’d planned. So we worked with them, but only @thepivot kept their word.”

”GMA” and “The Pivot Podcast” have seemingly worked through their issues. Ryan Clark told the NY Post:

“In the end, what we decided was to move forward in the best way,” he said. “There are no ill feelings between myself, The Pivot and ‘Good Morning America.’ [There were] even talks of trying to figure out how this relationship could be better in the future, so we’ll see. “For me, this definitely wasn’t a great experience, but I learned from it. From a business standpoint, them being willing to have the conversation with me and actually care enough to try to clarify was important — because I think it would have left a terrible taste in my mouth had they not.

Glad tha’ts settled. 

Photo: Instagram/University of Virginia/Henrico County Jail

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