UVA running back Mike Hollins says he isn't sure why a gunman opened fire on him and three other football players last month ... explaining this week the shooter was silent during his killing spree -- and had looked "normal" earlier in the day.
Hollins sat down with Michael Strahan on "Good Morning America" ... and gave some insight into the shooter's mindset -- while walking the ex-NFL star through how he was able to survive the terrifying Nov. 13 tragedy.
Hollins said he initially heard the gunshots ring out on the bus as it made its return to UVA's campus following a class field trip ... and he got off in a hurry -- unharmed.
But, he told Strahan that when he realized others weren't following him, he ran back in ... and that's when he said he locked eyes with suspected shooter Christopher Darnell Jones Jr.
"It was just a cold look," Hollins said, adding that the man said "nothing at all" to him. "It was, I don't know, it was just like a numb look."
Hollins said he turned to run again, and was shot in the back.
The football player said he didn't know Jones Jr. -- a former walk-on on the UVA football team -- "at all" ... and added that the guy had given him no indication that was upset earlier in the day.
"I had saw him that morning before we got on the bus," Hollins said. "He was looking normal to me."
Hollins suffered serious injuries in the shooting -- and required multiple surgeries to fix the damage. He told Strahan it wasn't until he came out of his initial surgery two days after the incident that he learned of the deaths of his teammates, D'Sean Perry, Lavel Davis and Devin Chandler.
"I've never cried like that before," he said.
Hollins is expected to make a full recovery.
Jones Jr., meanwhile, has since been hit with six criminal charges, including three counts of second-degree murder. He's due in court for another hearing in the case in March.