Three football players were killed and two others were injured in a shooting late Sunday night at the University of Virginia, campus police and university president Jim Ryan confirmed early Monday.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., the suspected shooter, was apprehended by police after a 12-hour manhunt that included a campus-wide lockdown.
Jones, a former football player and current UVA student, faces three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, according to UVA Police Chief Timothy Longo during a press conference.
According to NPR the university president, the shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. ET on a charter bus carrying students returning from a field trip to see a play.
UVA Juniors
The three victims, all juniors on the University of Virginia football team, were discovered dead on the scene, according to police: Devin Chandler, a wide receiver from Virginia Beach, Va.; Lavel Davis, a wide receiver from Dorchester, S.C.; and D’Sean Perry, a linebacker from Miami, Fla.
Officials at the university have not yet released the names of two more victims who are being treated for injuries; one is in critical condition.
Students and faculty stayed put for about 12 hours.
“This is a heartbreaking day for our community,” Ryan said. “This morning, the entire university community is in mourning. My heart breaks for the victims, their families, and everyone who knew and loved them.”
Monday’s classes and extracurricular activities were cancelled, and public transportation to campus was suspended. The surrounding Albemarle County public schools were also closed for the day.
After an extensive search of the grounds, a campus-wide shelter-in-place order was lifted shortly after 10:30 a.m. ET.
According to a press release from the local police department, Jones was apprehended “without incident” in a suburb of Richmond, Va., about 76 miles southeast of the university.
Jones will be charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun to commit a felony, according to UVA Police Chief Tim Longo.
Jones, a university student, was listed as a football player on the university’s athletics website in 2018, but he did not appear in any games.
Longo stated that Jones had previously drawn the attention of campus police due to his involvement in a hazing incident.
Longo said that police closed the investigation after witnesses refused to cooperate, but that Jones had violated a concealed weapons rule while outside of Charlottesville in February 2021.
The Biden administration advocates for stricter gun laws.
On Monday, social media users paid tribute to Chandler, Davis, and Perry. While sharing images and stories of the men, UVA football players and coaches expressed shock, outrage, and heartbreak.
Chandler, according to Jack Hamilton, a UVA professor who said both Chandler and Davis were his students, was described as “an incredibly nice person, always smiling, gregarious and funny One of those people who is difficult not to like.”
Davis went out of his way to make friends with non-athletes and was well-liked by many of his classmates, according to Hamilton.
President Biden’s “deepest condolences” to the “countless families, friends, and neighbours grieving for those killed as well as those injured in this senseless shooting,” according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America’s streets,” Pierre wrote, referring to a bill that passed the House of Representatives in July but does not appear to have a chance of passing the Senate due to a filibuster.
UVA officials had not yet released information about the type of weapon used in the shooting on Sunday.
This weekend, UVA is at least the second university to report student deaths.
Four University of Idaho students were found dead in a home near the campus on Sunday, according to police in Moscow, Idaho. The deaths are being investigated as suspected homicides by police.
“The Moscow Police Department expresses its heartfelt condolences to family members, friends, and the Moscow community,” the department said in a statement.
