UVA Football Shooting : University of Virginia campus police and president Jim Ryan revealed early Monday that three football players were killed and two others were injured in a shooting late Sunday night.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., the suspect in the shooting that led to a campus-wide lockdown, is now in police custody following a manhunt that lasted more than 12 hours.
UVA Police Chief Timothy Longo informed reporters at a press conference that Jones, a student at the institution and a former football player, faces three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a weapon in the conduct of a felony.
The university president announced in a news conference that the shooting took place on a charter bus full of students returning from a field trip to see a play at approximately 10:30 p.m. ET.
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Juniors Devin Chandler (a wide receiver from Virginia Beach), Lavel Davis (a wide receiver from Dorchester, South Carolina), and D’Sean Perry (a linebacker from Miami, Florida) were all found dead at the site, according to the police.
Two more victims are still being treated for their injuries, and one of them is in serious condition, but university officials have not yet made their identities public.
According to university officials, three football players were killed late Sunday as their bus returned to the main campus in Charlottesville from a field trip.
D’Sean Perry, a native of Miami, was one of the three football players killed; the other two were Lavel Davis Jr. of Ridgeville, South Carolina, and Devin Chandler of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Ryan remarked, “This is an unfathomably terrible day for our community.” My heart goes out to the victims, their families, and everyone who knew and loved them; this tragedy has devastated the whole campus community.
On Monday, the university called off the day’s classes and extracurricular activities and suspended bus service to the campus. Albemarle County, which includes Charlottesville, likewise cancelled all public school activities for the day.
Around 10:30 in the morning, the campus-wide shelter-in-place order was terminated. ET following a thorough investigation of the property.
According to a news release from the local police department, Jones was arrested “without incident” in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia, about 76 miles southeast from the institution.
Jones will be charged with three charges of second-degree murder and three counts of using a pistol in the commission of a felony, according to UVA Police Chief Tim Longo.
Jones, a student there, was listed as a football player on the school’s athletics website for 2018, however he did not play in any games.
According to Longo, campus police had previously dealt with Jones because of a hazing incident.
Jones violated a concealed weapons rule while outside of Charlottesville in February 2021, but the case was closed because witnesses declined to participate, according to Longo.
christopher darnell jones jr.
At 11 a.m., Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was taken into custody. The massive manhunt that began 12 hours prior and forced the Charlottesville university to close for the night was finally called off Monday near 80 miles from campus in Henrico County.
In a press conference, University of Virginia Police Chief Timothy Longo Sr. said that Jones, who had briefly played for the football team in 2018, was among a group of about 25 students who had traveled to Washington on Sunday as part of a school trip and had attended a play and eaten together. Jones allegedly began shooting at about 10:30 p.m., when the students returned to campus. It happened on Sunday for some reason or another.
