Police, community still looking for answers in Crozet shooting

The Charlottesville and Albemarle County community is reckoning with a new tragedy while revisiting one that happened just over two years ago.

On Monday, Feb. 17, three people were killed when a lone shooter opened fire with an AR-15 rifle in the parking lot of a Harris Teeter grocery store near Crozet.

Local media outlets have been following the incident closely, and this newsletter brings together information from multiple reports. 

Based on a preliminary investigation, police say that Justin Barbour, 28, shot and killed Peter Martin, 43, and Diane Spangler, 68, the Staunton News Leader reports. Col. Sean Reeves, chief of the Albemarle County Police Department, said during a Feb. 18 news conference that an unnamed, off-duty federal officer happened to be in the area when the shooting occurred and “selflessly placed themselves in harm’s way to stop the gunman,” according to video from 29 News. 

Albemarle County Police Capt. Darrell Byers explained that the federal agent “engaged the shooter with their personal weapon,” firing on and killing Barbour. Police found additional guns in Barbour’s car. CBS 19 has additional reporting on the shooting here, including eyewitness accounts here.

This tragedy comes a little over two years after a devastating Nov. 12, 2022, shooting at the University of Virginia that claimed the lives of three students: Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry. You can read extensive coverage from the Cavalier Daily here. 

In both of these cases, grieving families and community members were left wondering why — and if earlier intervention could have prevented these tragedies.

In the Harris Teeter shooting, Byers said during the Feb. 18 news conference that Barbour did not have a criminal history but “had prior contact with law enforcement, with the most recent being in January 2025.” According to a CBS 19 report, police are looking into possible mental health issues as part of their investigation.

The Daily Progress reported that the victims in the Feb. 17 shooting had no connection to Barbour. The newspaper pointed to a public Facebook post in which someone claiming to be Barbour’s sister said that he struggled with paranoia and the family “even went as far as to file a ECO.” Under Virginia state law, a magistrate or a court can issue an emergency custody order if they have probable cause to believe a person has a mental illness and there is a likelihood that they will harm themselves or others.

The Facebook post continues: “The magistrate office and a few law enforcement officers told us ‘you don’t have enough evidence’, ‘he seems fine’, you can’t keep his weapons away from him legally’.” 

The Daily Progress report also questions whether Virginia’s “red flag law,” which prevents anyone who shows signs of being a substantial risk to themselves or others from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a gun, could have been used in Barbour’s case. The newspaper found no evidence of such a petition in the Albemarle County courts. (Subscribers to the Daily Progress can read more of that report here).

From 2022: UVA was locked down for 12 hours before the suspect in a shooting on campus was caught

In the case of UVA, the university said yesterday that it plans to release a report related to the 2022 shooting in mid-March. The report was commissioned by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and was completed by a third party in 2023 at a cost of approximately $1.5 million to taxpayers, according to the Daily Progress. The newspaper previously sued UVA after it refused to release the report to the Progress after a Freedom of Information Act request.

UVA has said the report will be redacted when it is released, and it has already shared it with the families of the victims and two students who were seriously injured. Happy Perry, mother of D’Sean Perry, told the Daily Progress, “There’s nothing in there. They taken everything out.” According to the article, the majority of the report has been blacked out, leaving few answers for what led up to the shooting. Daily Progress subscribers can read more here.

After being apprehended in 2022, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. in 2024 pleaded guilty to killing the three students and awaits sentencing. Several media outlets, including the Associated Press, have reported that there was no clear motive, and Jones did not seem to have a direct relationship with the victims. Jones’ father also said in a Nov. 2022 interview with NBC News that his son seemed “paranoid,” but he did not share many details in terms of what was troubling him.

As CBS 19 reports, a vigil will be held tonight, Friday, Feb. 21, for victims of the shooting in Crozet. The Community Prayer Vigil for Health and Peace will be held from 7-8 p.m. at Crozet Baptist Church, 5804 St. George Ave. 

Stay safe and take care of each other, 
Akash Sinha, Managing Editor