A former University of Virginia football player suspected of killing three football players and wounding two other students on campus late Sunday night is in custody after a manhunt in Charlottesville, Virginia, police confirmed Monday.
During a news conference on Monday, University of Virginia president Jim Ryan said Jones shot and killed three Cavaliers football players: junior receiver Lavel Davis Jr. of Dorchester, South Carolina; junior receiver Devin Chandler of Huntersville, North Carolina; and junior defensive end/linebacker D’Sean Perry of Miami.
Authorities said the suspect in the shooting, identified as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., has been taken into custody. Jones was listed as a freshman running back on the team’s 2018 roster, and his roster bio noted that he previously played at Petersburg High School and Varina High School in Virginia.
Ryan said two other students were shot and were hospitalized; he said one was in good condition and one is in critical condition. Ryan did not identify the other students.
Ryan said the shooting took place on a charter bus after students returned to campus from a field trip. He called the incident a “sad, shocking and tragic day for the university community.”
“Let me say how deeply sorry I am for the victims and for their family and friends,” Ryan said. University of Virginia police chief Tim Longo said Jones had been arrested and was charged with three counts of second-degree murder.
The UVA Police Department had tweeted earlier Monday morning that it was looking for Jones regarding the shooting, which occurred in a parking garage on campus around 10:30 p.m. ET Sunday. The tweet included the same photograph of Jones that was used for his Virginia football bio online.
Ryan confirmed in a message to the community at 4 a.m. ET Monday that three people were killed and two others were injured. Ryan wrote that “one of our students, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., is suspected to have committed the shooting.”
At 10:33 a.m. ET, a shelter-in-place order was lifted on the Virginia campus, after a “thorough search on and around” the campus, according to a tweet by the UVA Police Department.
Davis, a junior from Dorchester, South Carolina, had 16 catches for 371 yards and two touchdowns this season. As a freshman in 2020, he caught 20 passes for 515 yards and five TDs, averaging 25.8 yards per catch. He did not play during the 2021 season due to a knee injury that required surgery.
“Saddening, saddening news this morning,” Newberry College assistant coach Sean Lampkin, a cousin of Davis, posted to Twitter on Monday. “God took one of his most kind, humble, loving soldiers off of the battlefield last night. Please pray for my family as we are devastated by the passing of my cousin Lavel Davis Jr.”
Perry, a junior from Miami, had five tackles in three games this season, including two in Saturday’s loss to Pitt. He had an 84-yard interception return for a touchdown during his freshman season in 2020.
Said Davis’ father, Lavel Davis Sr., in a Facebook post: “Lord please help me.”
Chandler, a junior from Huntersville, North Carolina, has not appeared in a game this season. He caught two passes for 28 yards as a freshman in 2020.
“Although we do not yet have a full understanding of the motive and circumstances surrounding these events, police are investigating as we speak,” Ryan said during Monday’s news conference.
“This is an unimaginably sad day for our community. The entire university community is grieving this morning. My heart is broken for the victims and their families and for all those who knew and loved them, and they are all in my prayers. As I’ve said before, when I see our students, I see my own kids, and I can not imagine anything worse for a parent than losing a child.”
Monday’s men’s basketball matchup between Northern Iowa and Virginia has been canceled, it was announced.