UVA shootings: Christopher Jones ‘targeted’ football players but motive still unknown, court hears

Authorities would not disclose where exactly Christopher Darnell Jones Jr, the suspect in the UVA shooting, was taken into custody but confirmed to reporters that “to the best of their knowledge” he was not found on the Charlottesville campus.

The University of Virginia Chief of Police, Tim Longo, confirmed during a Monday morning press conference that two of the students killed during Sunday night’s mass shooting at the Charlottesville campus were found dead on a bus.

D’Sean Perry, 22, and Devin Chandler, Chief Longo said, were found dead on a bus full of students who were returning home from a field trip while their fellow student and football player Level Davis Jr was declared dead at hospital later that night.

The “armed and dangerous” University of Virginia student accused of killing three college football stars in a campus mass shooting has been taken into custody after more than 12 hours on the run.

Christopher Darnell Jones, a 22-year-old student and former football player for the college, was arrested late on Monday morning following a huge manhunt, University of Virginia Police Department confirmed on Twitter.

Mr Jones is accused of opening fire on a bus full of students on Sunday night as they arrived back at the parking garage in the main campus along Culbreth Road in Charlottesville. The group was returning from a field trip at the time.

Three football players on the university’s team the Virginia Cavaliers – D’Sean Perry, 22, Lavel Davis Jr, and Devin Chandler – were killed in the attack.

Rachel Sharp has more here in this breaking news story.

Christopher Darnell Jones, a 22-year-old student and former football player for the University of Virginia, has been charged with the murders of three of his fellow students.

Police charged Mr Jones with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in commissom of a felony on Monday.

The charges came prior to his arrest late on Monday morning.

Officials said that further charges could also be brought against the accused gunman.

The University of Virginia received a report from someone concerned about Christopher Darnell Jones owning a firearm prior to Sunday’s attack – putting him on the radar of the threat asssessment team.

Officials revealed at Monday’s press conference that, sometime in the fall of 2022, someone not connected to the college got in touch with the office of student affairs.

The individual told the college officials that Mr Jones had made comments to them about possessing a gun.

The university tried to follow up with Mr Jones and spoke to his roommate – who said he had not seen him with a gun –

Christopher Darnell Jones was also allegedly involved in a hazing incident at the college prior to the mass shooting.

Officials revealed in Monday’s press conference that Mr Jones was on the radar of the university’s threat assessment team before Sunday’s attack.

As well as a report from an individual concerned that he had access to a gun, police said that he had also been involved in a hazing incident.

Law enforcement officials have also learned that Mr Jones was involved in a prior criminal incident in February 2021, involving a concealed weapon outside of Charlottesville.

Under the university’s rules, he should have reported that to the school but did not.

The third victim identified in the campus shooting at the University of Virginia had only moved to the university last season.

Devin Chandler was a second year student from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and a former University of Wisconsin wide receiver who played for University of Wisconsin football team in 2020 and 2021 seasons.

He transferred to the University of Virginia after the past season.

Prior to that, he started his prep career at Arlington High School in Tennessee where he played wide receiver and defensive back before transferring to William Amos Hough High School in North Carolina for his senior season, according to his Cavaliers’ online profile.

Three people were killed and two more injured after a gunman opened fire at the University of Virginia, sending the main Charlottesville campus into lockdown for hours before the arrest of suspect Christopher Darnell Jones.

On Sunday evening at approximately 10.30pm, the shooter staged their attack near a parking garage on the university’s main campus before fleeing the scene and evading police detection well into Monday morning.

The manhunt for the suspect, who police identified as student and former football player Mr Jones, 22, plunged the university’s residences into lockdown as students and staff were commanded by the University of Virginia Police and the school’s administration to shelter in place and seek safety if they weren’t inside already.

Police finally announced Mr Jones’ arrest just after 11am local time following warnings to the public that he was considered “armed and dangerous”.

The Independent’s Johanna Chisholm details what we knwo about the suspect:

The suspect in Sunday’s campus shooting was previously hailed as success story after he reportedly overcame a troubled childhood and anger issues to attend the University of Virginia.

A 2018 profile for the Richmond Times-Dispatch revealed how Mr Jones grew up in Essex Village and Mosby Court housing complexes in Richmond. The latter is one of seven public housing communities located in east Richmond where more than 93 per cent of households are headed by a female and the average annual household income is $10,609.

In the article, Mr Jones was described as being a smart and quiet child by his grandmother, known to him and his siblings as “Grannie”.

“I lift him up more in prayer because I can see the hand of God on him,” said his “Grannie,” Mary Jones in the news article. “He was quiet. Even in school, quiet. His sisters and his brothers would tease. But he was smart. He’s destined for more.”

For Mr Jones, he characterised his parents’ divorce as being “traumatic” as his father left when he was five years old and didn’t return until he was a teen.

“My dad and me were really close. It just hurt me when he had to leave,” he said. “That was one of the most traumatic things that happened to me in my life. I didn’t understand why he left. When I went to school, people didn’t understand me.”

But when he was in the classroom, where he would easily be getting As in the courses he excelled in, that’s where he felt at home.

“When I come into the classrooms, everything flowed,” Mr Jones said at the time.

The then-18-year-old described brushes of fights he’d get into with his peers that would sometimes lead to suspensions but admitted that most of those altercations stemmed from kids seeming surprised that a “kid from the projects” was constantly raising his hand to answer questions.

“I would get upset because my intelligence was being insulted. Kids would pick on me — ‘Why did you do that? Why did you answer that question?’” Mr Jones told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “And in that world, disrespect means you should fight.”

Mr Jones’ relationship with mother reportedly deteriorated when he was a teen, which later prompted him to move in with his grandmother in the summer of 2016, relocating him to Petersburg, while his siblings continued to live with his mom.

Mentors throughout Mr Jones’ high school years provided guidance, with some confiding to the news outlet that they would take him out to restaurants for meals or buy him new clothes when they noticed him wearing the same outfit days in a row.

“I think he had more anger when I first met him,” said one mentor, Xavier Richardson, interviewed for the article. “He always had strong goals. He was ambitious, but his anger simply got in the way,” Mr Richardson said, who had met the teen in the 11th grade.

Mr Richardson confirmed during that 2018 interview that he had helped the young man navigate much of his financial aid package with the University of Virginia after taking him on multiple college tours.

“If it wasn’t for these people in my life, I would’ve been just another kid whose dad left him,” Mr Jones said of the mentors in his life at the time.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has released a statement about the shooting, saying that President Joe Biden is “mourning” with the community as he renews his calls for the US Senate to take action on gun control.

“The President and First Lady are mourning with the University of Virginia community after yet another deadly shooting in America has taken the lives of three young people,” read the statement.

“Our deepest condolences are with the countless families, friends, and neighbors grieving for those killed as well as those injured in this senseless shooting.

“Administration officials are in close contact with state and local officials, and we are grateful for those authorities’ swift response to this attack.

“Too many families across America are bearing the awful burden of gun violence. Earlier this year, President Biden signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly three decades, in addition to taking other historic actions. But we must do more. We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America’s streets. House Democrats acted, and the Senate should follow.”