3 Virginia Football Players Killed, Ex-Player in Custody

A former University of Virginia football player suspected of killing three football players and injuring two other students on campus over the weekend is in custody following a town-wide search in Charlottesville, VA, police confirmed Monday.

Authorities identified the suspect as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who was listed as a freshman running back in 2018 and previously played a Petersburg High School and Varina High School in Virginia, according to his player bio on the Cavalier athletics page.

University of Virginia Jim Ryan said during a news conference Monday that Jones shot and killed three UVA football players — junior wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr., junior wide receiver Devin Chandler, and junior defensive end/linebacker D’Sean Perry.

A recent report from ESPN.com detailed Ryan’s press conference and some of the details surrounding the on-campus incident.

Below is an excerpt from the ESPN.com report.

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.

To read the full report from ESPN.com about the UVA on-campus shooting, click here.