Three members of the University of Virginia football team were shot and killed on a charter bus that had just returned to Grounds Sunday night from a class field trip, University police said Monday. Two other students were wounded and are in the hospital as of Monday afternoon.
During an 11 a.m. news conference Monday to discuss the shooting and the search for the gunman, a Virginia State Police captain interrupted University Police Chief Timothy Longo during his address to whisper that the suspect was in custody.
“Thank God,” Longo said. “We have a sigh of relief.”
Police and University officials said the suspect was also a University student who had at one time also played for the football team, but it wasn’t clear if he had a relationship with the other players on the bus.
Two other students were wounded in the shooting. University President Jim Ryan said he spoke to one of the wounded students who was in good condition but the second remained in critical condition. Ryan did not name the wounded students.
Ryan identified the deceased as D’Sean Perry, a defensive end and linebacker from Miami; Lavel Davis Jr., a wide receiver from Ridgeville, South Carolina; and Devin Chandler, a wide receiver from Virginia Beach. Ryan said Chandler was a second-year student, Davis was a third-year student and Perry was a fourth-year student.
“This is a sad, shocking and tragic day for our UVA community,” Ryan said. “Let me say how deeply sorry I am for the victims and for their family and friends.”
Just before 11 a.m., University officials ended the shelter-in-place order that had been in effect more than 12 hours. They said about 500 students spent the night “sheltered in buildings throughout Grounds, in libraries, classrooms and other spaces” until the directive was lifted.
University officials canceled classes Monday and postponed the men’s basketball game that had been scheduled for Monday night in John Paul Jones Arena. Throughout the early morning, a series of alerts to students, faculty and staff said police officers from several agencies were searching on and off Grounds for the suspect, identified as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr.
Henrico Police issued a statement later Monday saying that they had taken Jones into custody “without incident” in the 5700 block of Edgelawn Street, in the eastern portion of the county.
Longo said Jones would be charged with three counts of second-degree murder and using a gun in a crime. Longo said the charges could later be upgraded if “certain facts and circumstances arise.”
University officials said the shooting happened around 10:30 Sunday night on a charter bus that was returning students from a play in Washington as part of a class activity. Two of the students – Perry and Chandler – were found dead inside the bus. Davis died at a hospital, officials said.
Officials said they estimated there were about 25 students on the bus, but said it was unclear if Jones was one of those students.
As police converged on the bus, UVA Emergency Management issued the first of several notifications to students, faculty and staff reporting gunshots at Culbreth Garage near the Drama Building. Other alerts quickly followed telling students to shelter in place and that the gunman was at large. The alerts later included the suspect’s name and photograph, what he was seen wearing, and the license plate of the SUV he was believed to be driving.
