Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. UVA student gunman arrested after killing 3 members of football team, including: Lavel Davis Jr., LB D’Sean Perry and WR Devin Chandler.
The University of Virginia (UVA) student who allegedly shot three people dead and wounded two others is in custody, police announced Monday morning.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was arrested after a 12-hour manhunt following the shootings just after 10.30pm, Sunday night.
All three dead were members of the football team, according to police, with two of them found inside a bus after returning from a class field trip to see a play. Police said all three members of the football team were killed after the gunman opened fire on a full bus returning from a field trip at a parking deck on the school’s Charlottesville campus the Times-Dispatch reported.
It remained unclear if Jones was on the bus when it pulled into the parking deck when gunfire rang out.
Jones upon his arrest was charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun to commit a felony.
BREAKING: Authorities say they have the suspect in the deadly University of Virginia shooting in custody. Three members of the football team were killed and two others were injured. The suspect was identified as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. pic.twitter.com/GZbxBRUEPp
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) November 14, 2022
School had been on lockdown for 12 hours
‘I just need a moment to thank God and breathe a sigh of relief,’ said University of Virginia Police Chief Tim Longo at a press conference Monday morning as he got word that Jones had been apprehended.
The campus had been on lockdown since the shooting and classes for Monday had been canceled until Jones, who had initially fled, was taken into custody.
Police did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding Jones’ arrest.
Shots rang out in the area of Culbreth Road on university grounds, UVA police announced around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
‘UVA Alert: ACTIVE ATTACKER firearm reported in area of Culbreth Road. RUN HIDE FIGHT,’ the department tweeted about 10 minutes later.
University President Jim Ryan said in a statement early Monday that Jones was a student at the school and ‘multiple law enforcement agencies’ were working to apprehend him.
‘As of this writing, I am heartbroken to report that the shooting has resulted in three fatalities; two additional victims were injured and are receiving medical care,’ Ryan said in the message.
Just an absolutely catastrophic situation at Virginia where former UVa. football player Chris Jones has allegedly killed 3 current players: WR Lavel Davis Jr., LB D’Sean Perry and WR Devin Chandler. pic.twitter.com/5onWjWO2Pg
— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) November 14, 2022
Why did the former football player target current UVA football team players?
Reports told of one of the fatalities being members of the University of Virginia football team, including linebacker, D’Sean Perry, the Times-Dispatch reported.
Virginia wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr. was one of two football players shot and killed Sunday night, according to a Tweet from his cousin, Newberry College assistant football coach Sean Lampkin.
The third fatality was identified by social media as UVA football player Devin Chandler.
Of the two injured students, one was in critical condition and the other was in good condition, the university said.
In an interview with The Washington Post Monday, Michael Hollins Sr. said his son, Michael Hollins, Jr., was one of the students injured late Sunday in the campus shooting. His son, 21, and the shooter knew each other because they were football teammates after Jones having once been in roster in 2018.
UVa sophomore Em Gunter, 19, told the Times-Dispatch that she was in her International Residential College dormitory when she heard six shots ring out at the time of Sunday night’s shooting. She said she can see Culbreth Road from her window.
Glowing honor student
‘I just have no words,’ Gunter told the Dispatch. ‘This is insane.’
The suspect was described as a black male wearing a burgundy jacket, blue jeans and red shoes, according to campus police. He is said to be around 5ft’8 and weighing around 190 pounds.
A twitter post described Jones as having been a freshman on the U-Va. football team in 2018 but did not appear in any games. Jones hailed from Petersburg VA. Jones and went to Varina HS for 3 years and Petersburg HS for his senior year according to a player profile on VirginiaSports.com.
Jones profile describes him in glowing terms: Jones was a member of the National Honor Society, and the National Technical Honor Society, who served as president of Key Club – a society for volunteering in the community.
‘High school student members of Key Club perform acts of service in their communities, such as cleaning up parks, collecting clothing and organizing food drives,’ the website states.
No immediate motive for the school mass shooting was immediately known and how or why the victims came to be targeted.
The shooting is the latest in a wave of gun violence on U.S. college and high school campuses in recent years.
Since 2002, there have been 14 incidents of gunfire on Virginia college campuses, according to non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety. The organization has counted more than 200 shootings on or near colleges in the Unites States since 2013, and 400 at K-12 schools.
