Suspect in custody after 3 football players shot dead and 2 people wounded at the University of Virginia

Police have in custody a University of Virginia student and ex-UVA football player suspected of fatally shooting three current players and wounding two other people late Sunday at the school’s main campus in Charlottesville as a bus returned from a class field trip, school officials said.

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., faces three charges of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, UVA Police Chief Timothy Longo Sr. told reporters Monday morning as an hours long manhunt came to an end and authorities lifted a campus lockdown order.

Jones was arrested without incident around 11 a.m. ET about 80 miles east of Charlottesville in Henrico County, the county police agency said in a statement. He was pulled over while driving.

Police have not offered a motive for the attack.

Those killed were Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, university President Jim Ryan said. The two wounded students are being treated at UVA Medical Center, with one in critical condition and the other in good condition, he said, declining to name them.

Monday classes at the university are canceled, as are those at Charlottesville City Schools, the K-12 district said in a letter to families. A UVA men’s basketball game scheduled for Monday evening has also been canceled, the university said.


Jones had come to campus authorities’ attention in September, when authorities found out Jones had made a comment about possessing a gun to a third party unaffiliated with the university. Jones was also involved in a hazing investigation on campus that was closed because witnesses would not cooperate, Longo said.

Jones is listed on UVA’s athletics website as a football player in 2018 who as a freshman did not participate in any games. He attended Varina High School and Petersburg High School, where he played football as a linebacker and running back, according to his university athletics bio. While in high school, Jones was Key Club president and a member of the National Honor Society and the National Technical Honor Society. Seemed so normal yet he was very far from it.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday called the shooting a “horrific tragedy” and praised the work of law enforcement for taking the suspect into custody.

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