The suspected shooter accused of killing three people and injuring two others on Sunday at the University of Virginia is in custody, university police officials said during a Monday press conference.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a student at the university, was apprehended while officials were giving an update, and he has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder, among other handgun charges, University of Virginia Police Department Chief Timothy Longo Sr. said. Jones was on the run for 12 hours before he was apprehended.
SHOOTING SUSPECT CHRISTOPHER DARNELL JONES JR. IS A FORMER UVA FOOTBALL PLAYER: POLICE
“Just give me a moment to thank God [and] breathe a sigh of relief,” Longo said in the news conference upon hearing of Jones’s arrest.
School officials have identified the three victims who were killed as members of the school’s football team, and the shooting occurred inside a school bus that was taking the students back from a play in Washington, D.C. The students have been identified as D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler, and Lavel Davis Jr. Two other students were injured, with one in good condition and the other in critical condition, according to UVA President Jim Ryan.
“I am holding the victims, their families, and all members of the University of Virginia community in my heart today, and we will make plans to come together as a community to grieve as soon as the suspect is apprehended,” Ryan said prior to Jones’s arrest.
Jones came to the university’s attention earlier this year when an unidentified third party said Jones revealed he had a gun in September. The school followed up on the report and said the report was not in connection to any threats to the school and that Jones’s roommate had not seen any gun. However, Jones had also been investigated previously for a hazing incident, though Longo did not give information about what the hazing entailed or when it took place.
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Longo said the school discovered Jones had also been involved in a concealed weapon violation in 2021 during its investigation into the Sunday shooting. Jones committed the offense off campus but didn’t report it to the school, violating university protocol.
Officials did not say where Jones was apprehended but confirmed that it was not on the university’s main campus in Charlottesville, Virginia. No motive for the attack has been given.
