3 University of Virginia football players killed in shooting; student suspect in custody, police say

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/11/14/university-virginia-shooting-suspects-victims/10695450002/

3 University of Virginia football players killed in shooting; student suspect in custody, police say
John Bacon
Charles Ventura
Jane Onyanga-Omara
USA TODAY

The University of Virginia lifted a campuswide lockdown Monday, hours after three students were killed and two injured in a shooting rampage on a charter bus that had returned from a field trip, authorities said.

The suspect, a student at the elite, 22,000-student school, was taken into custody Monday, authorities said.

Killed were D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr., and Devin Chandler, all of whom play football at the school, Ryan said. The search for the shooter drew a shelter-in-place order that lasted about 12 hours.

"This is a sad, shocking and tragic day for our UVA community," President Jim Ryan said at a press conference Monday.

Police said a shooting was reported at about 10:40 p.m. Sunday on the northern edge of campus, tweeting: "UVA Alert: ACTIVE ATTACKER firearm reported in area of Culbreth Road. RUN HIDE FIGHT."


Ryan said counseling and psychological services would be made available to students. Classes were canceled Monday, as was a UVA basketball game.

“This is a message any leader hopes never to have to send, and I am devastated that this violence has visited the University of Virginia,” Ryan wrote in an open letter shared on social media. “This is a traumatic incident for everyone in our community.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said agents were assisting in the investigation. Gov. Glenn Youngkin said State Police were coordinating with local authorities, adding that he and his wife, Suzanne, were "praying for the UVA community."

Who is shooting suspect Christopher Darnell Jones Jr.?
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was taken into custody Monday, police said during a news conference.

Multiple police agencies were searched on the ground and from a helicopter.

A photo of Jones tweeted by UVA police also appears on virginiasports.com, where Jones was listed on the UVA football team roster in 2018. His profile says he was then a 5-foot, 9-inch, 195-pound first-year running back from Petersburg, Va., who did not appear in any games. It adds that he graduated from Petersburg High School after spending three years at Varina High School, where he was named Student of the Year as a freshman and sophomore, according to the profile.

Students huddle together, waiting for news
Rachel Mulvaney, 18, a first-year student in UVA's Batten School of Public Policy and Leadership, locked down in her dorm room. She said she first heard about the shooting when her mother called to make sure she was safe. A short time later she saw the school's alert that a shooter was on campus.

"I was terrified, it honestly didn’t hit me this could be real at first," she told USA TODAY in an email. "I had a hard time wrapping my mind around it and processing."

Students checked on each other to make sure friends and loved ones were safe, she said. And she is worried about the mental health of students.

"There is a heavy atmosphere of mourning. I’m praying for the victims’ families and the UVA football team. I’m worried about the mental health of students. How will we recover? What will moving forward look like? Confused and scared.


Luke, 21, a 4th-year student majoring in foreign affairs, biology and pre-med, was locked down at his girlfriend’s house with several other students "studying and just staying put." They listened to the police scanner for updates from the scene, less than a mile away.

"People have been locked down in libraries all night. Everyone (is) definitely shaken up," Luke, who preferred that his last name be withheld for privacy reasons, told USA TODAY in an email. "We are in deep prayer for the victims and for their families right now."

UVA shooting victims
All three victims were members of the University of Virginia football team. The victims were D'Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler. The names of the two people who were wounded were not released.

Where is UVA located?
The university is located on 2,000 acres in Charlottesville, about 115 miles southwest of Washington and 70 miles west of the state capital of Richmond. The school was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, whose Monticello estate sits a couple miles off campus.



This is a breaking story. Follow USA TODAY for the latest updates.

"Get ready....for your blessing....."
"Bury me by my Grand-Grand and when you can come follow me"

this is messed up.

Shooter is from Petersburg, VA.. smh.

not sure of the details but I'm sure more will come out

either way, this is horrible.


@silentintellect

Something about a college kid getting killed always hurts more for me. You think you do all these things to get your kid off to college and you can breath a little easier thinking they are away on a campus at school and then something uncontrollable like this happens.

Details are still emerging but there really isn't any evidence that this has anything to do with hazing (football or frat). Folks shouldn't spread that mistruth.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna57064

The university probed a possible hazing incident that included the shooter,
but witnesses FAILED to cooperate ( meaning they didn’t want to trick)….
so it wasn’t investigated further( meaning they blew it off)

“Jones had also been involved in a campus hazing probe, but it did not appear to lead to any disciplinary action, Longo said. Details on the probe were not immediately available.

“I know that it was eventually closed due to witnesses that would not cooperate with the process,” he said.”

The shooter also told his father he was being picked on.

All you have to do is Google.

SMH.

He was a Kappa. None of the people he shot were kappas. This is not a case of a person shooting the Kappas who hazed him.

He was on the football team in 2018. These guys are on the football team now. Meaning they came after him. This was not a case of Upperclassmen football players hazing underclassmen.

Just because the dude had an hazing incident it doesn't not logically follow that he must have shot the people who Hazed him.

You slandering the dead for no good reason. Stop.




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

like you always do.

but wants people to stop assuming.. smh.

with asumming these dead kids did something that got them shot?

You don't see the difference?

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

and you seem to imply that speculating what motivated these murders means its justified and no one is doing that.

I am a Kappa. I know he is a Kappa. I know when he crossed. I know those other guys aren't Kappas.

We know he was a football player. We know the victims were football players.

What am I assuming?

You on the other hand are assuming it HAS to do with a possible hazing Incident because he once reported a hazing incident years ago?


>like you always do.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

no one said anything concrete but you are going hard because you are a kappa and saw the word hazing.

okay.. smh

these days, hazing is interchanged with bullying, being picked on, etc and that's how it's being used in this instance by a lot of people.

i think the grand point people were making here w/ "hazing" is that he may have been being fucked with on some level by the people he shot. his father mentioned him saying he was being picked on.

i don't think anyone ever used "hazing" to imply this was some Kappa shit but to imply "bullying."

i think they used "hazing" because "bullying" is used w/ kids, and these were, despite being young men, still adults so it's weird for people to say an adult is being bullied.

that's just my take. and if you're a Kappa i can understand being sensitive to the term.

cooperate.

A friend of mine is a Kappa and his line was suspended over hazing charges so I get why Kappa’s get defensive when they hear the term

but I wasn’t using hazing in the frat sense…

not some initiation shit.

its wondering if there was a reason he targeted other football players.

and umm… hazing doesn’t have to be frat or seniority related.

Scenario: Dude was on the football team in 2018. New kids come in the next year or 2 who are better.. and they laugh at him struggling to keep up or getting demoted to the practice squad, or just being weak AF and getting dragged in practice.


When I say hazing I mean being picked on, joked and ridiculed for not shining on the football field. No idea what actually happened but its not wrong to wonder if there was a reason for his targets.

Maybe you didn’t get play sports growing up.. we joked anyone for anything on long bus rides too.

None of this means the shooting is justified

Being Picked on isn't Hazing. Hazing involves putting people through shit in order to be part of a group. Hazing is a crime that folks can go to jail for.

I am sensitive because I am a Kappa and there has been tons of baseless finger pointing at Kappas when that makes no sense given the facts.

It's slandering the dead when we have no good information as to why he shot those kids.



>its wondering if there was a reason he targeted other
>football players.
>
>and umm… hazing doesn’t have to be frat or seniority
>related.
>
>Scenario: Dude was on the football team in 2018. New kids come
>in the next year or 2 who are better.. and they laugh at him
>struggling to keep up or getting demoted to the practice
>squad, or just being weak AF and getting dragged in practice.
>
>
>
>When I say hazing I mean being picked on, joked and ridiculed
>for not shining on the football field. No idea what actually
>happened but its not wrong to wonder if there was a reason for
>his targets.
>
>Maybe you didn’t get play sports growing up.. we joked
>anyone for anything on long bus rides too.
>
>None of this means the shooting is justified


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

So much goes on in locker rooms..

my first year at Tennessee, the stories football players would tell me about.. smh

which is why I wondered..

The Victims all started in 2020. They weren't in the locker room at the same time.

The shooting victim who lived already stated he didn't know the guy.

I don't have to assume shit because there is a lot of available information out there already.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

“Jones was also involved in a hazing investigation on campus that was closed because witnesses would not cooperate, Longo said”

That he was involved in an Hazing Incident doesn't mean that this has anything to do with Hazing.

There is no evidence this was connected. Jones was Spring '20. These dudes were not Kappas. If there was any hazing going on he would have been the Hazer.

Why you so invested in this being about hazing?


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

you saw hazing and immediately thought frat

I have said countless times my question had nothing to do with Kappas or traditional hazing.

and I wondered because one of the deceased is from the Huntersville, NC.. where I’m posting from at the present moment.

No idea why you want this to be about you and your kappas. This has nothing to do with you.. I know you are from VA but I also went to school right up the road from Petersburg in Richmond.

I’m simply wondering out loud if they were fucking with him because he was on the football team at one time. Trying to figure out what would motivate him to do something so senseless.

but you seem dead set on trying to make my question into victim blaming like I would condone shooting people for being teased/hazed (again, not frat hazing).

When there is no evidence that this has anything to do with Hazing.

You also don't seem to know what hazing is. Bullying along isn't hazing.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

we have already covered the semantics of hazing but continue to insist it only means one thing.

you are more focused on the term than the intent.

EYE believe hazing is more that frat bullshit.

They could have stopped this. They knew about a possible hazing incident with the
student, and that he potentially owned a gun. A student informed the university in
regards to both situations.

It was reported that the student wasn’t randomly shooting. He was shooting at certain
individuals.

“In court Wednesday, Hingeley said Jones fatally shot Chandler while he slept. A witness reported that Jones was aiming at “certain people” and “not randomly shooting,” Hingeley said.”

easy to say after the fact.

the information and history on everything later on, but
I wouldn’t be surprised if the school blew it off…

Any mention of a gun , minor or major, deserves immediate attention, especially
at a school. It sounds to me that the kid was hazed, and told a student that he was
hazed and that he had a gun. The student then informed the university about the
situation, but the university never acted on it.

I’m not excusing the shooter in any form or fashion….but his act SOUNDS like an
act of vengeance.

Not that people "should have known" what was inside someone's mind and could magically figure out how to prevent it.

Dude shot a guy while he slept. Could he had chopped him with a machete? Sure. And then attacked other people by chasing them down and strangling them? Probably.

But the GUN made it so much easier and likely.

and the University knew about his gun conviction prior to the
shooting but didn’t issue any type of discipline or act upon it.

Killer is still on the loose

Based on the following account from WaPo, it makes me think there was some kind of friction (real or imagined) between the shooter and the football players. The young lady who gave her account said that everyone was nice & polite to the shooter during this trip.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/15/uva-shooting-witness-reveals-details/

There's also mention of the University escalating a disciplinary action against the shooter on Oct. 27 for not disclosing a misdemeanor concealed weapons charge from 2021 (link & swipe below). Could that have set him off and cause him to take out his anger on the football players? Did the university's investigation somehow involve members of the team?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/13/shooting-university-virginia-charlottesville/

The University of Virginia’s threat assessment team started scrutinizing Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. after a student reported Sept. 15 that he had heard Jones make a comment about possessing a gun, a university spokesman said Monday.

U-Va. spokesman Brian Coy said the tip came as part of an investigation into a separate hazing allegation.

Coy, in a statement elaborating on remarks that U-Va. Police Chief Timothy J. Longo Sr. made at an earlier news conference Monday, said the tipster did not tell the university he saw Jones with a gun. Nor was there a specific threat associated with the gun-possession report. U-Va. officials also reached out to Jones’s roommate and heard nothing from him about seeing a gun.

But the threat assessment team did discover another detail, Coy said in a statement: “that Mr. Jones previously had been tried and convicted of a misdemeanor concealed weapons violation in 2021, for which he received a 12-month suspended sentence and a small fine.”

The Washington Post could not find a court record of the conviction, which Coy said occurred in Henrico County.

Coy added: “Throughout the investigation, Mr. Jones repeatedly refused to cooperate with University officials who were seeking additional information about the claims that he had a firearm and about his failure to disclose the previous misdemeanor conviction.”

University rules require students to disclose such convictions. So U-Va. officials took a further step, Coy said: “Accordingly, on October 27, the Threat Assessment Team escalated his case for disciplinary action.”

Coy added: “University officials take the responsibility to evaluate and act upon potential public safety threats seriously.”

and you let him stay in school?

wtf?

>and you let him stay in school?
>
>wtf?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY

Like they will kick you out for cheating on test, lying to the school, etc.

It might have been the case that Jones realized that he was facing expulsion and snapped.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"