Suspected shooter Christopher Darnell Jones, Jr., a University of Virginia student and former football player, is in custody more than 12 hours after three students died and two were injured Sunday night on campus.
UVA officials have released the names of the three victims: Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devan Chandler. Two victims died at the scene, on a bus on Culbreth Road, and another died in the hospital. All three were UVA football players, and the suspect, Jones played for UVA football in 2018.
The two other injured people are at UVA Hospital, one in good condition and one in critical condition, said UVA President Jim Ryan. Their identities are being withheld.
University students sheltered in place throughout the night and into the Monday morning while local and state police searched for Jones. That order was lifted Monday morning after police determined Jones had fled the immediate area.
Public school and UVA classes were cancelled Monday.
The shooting happened Sunday night in a bus parked on Culbreth Road, which is on the northeast side of campus near Arts Grounds, about six blocks from Venable Elementary School.
The bus was filled with UVA students from an unidentified class returning from seeing a play in Washington, D.C., officials said at a Monday morning news conference.
Jones “came under the attention of University of Virginia threat assessment in the fall of 2022,” UVA Police Chief Tim Longo said at a news conference streamed live on UVA’s website.
Someone “not affiliated with the university” reported to officials that Jones had a gun, Longo said. Jones was also part of a “hazing incident” on campus. That investigation was closed because witnesses did not cooperate, Longo said. He did not provide any additional details.
Jones was also facing administrative disciplinary action because he failed to report “a prior criminal incident involving a concealed weapons violation.”
Longo was in the middle of describing the threat assessment university officials had conducted for Jones when news came in that he had been arrested.
“He’s in custody,” he said, before taking a long pause and starring at the podium. “Thank God.”
Charlottesville City Schools and Albemarle County Public Schools are all closed Monday. A number of private schools are also closed, including St. Anne’s-Belfield School, The Covenant School and Tandem Friends School.
No other private schools or daycares have published whether they are closed.
Charlottesville City Schools aims to open on time Tuesday morning and will send students and families a notification by the end of the day, said Amanda Korman, a district spokeswoman.
It’s unclear if Albemarle schools intend to reopen Tuesday.
UVA students can call Counseling and Psychological Services any time, while faculty and staff can use the Employee Assistance Program for support, UVA President Jim Ryan wrote in a campus-wide email early Monday morning.
Anyone can sign up for UVA Emergency Management alerts by texting “UVA” to 226787. UVA also says families and those with questions can call an Emergency Hotline at 877-685-4836.
Tamica Jean-Charles contributed to this report.
