CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A University of Virginia student who went on a field trip to see a play with classmates is the one suspected of opening fire inside the bus they were riding in when the group returned to campus, a university spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
Spokesperson Brian Coy said the suspect in the shooting, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, joined what was previously described as a group of about two dozen others who traveled about 120 miles (193 kilometers) from the campus in Charlottesville, Virginia, to Washington for the field trip Sunday. Police said Jones, a former member of the school’s football team, shot and killed three current team members and wounded two other students.
The shooting set off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured just outside Richmond on Monday.
University President Jim Ryan said at a news conference Monday that authorities did not have a “full understanding” of the motive or circumstances of the shooting. Authorities said it was unclear how Jones was able to flee the shooting scene.
Jones was a member of the school’s football team during the 2018 season. He is accused of fatally shooting three current members of the team and wounding a fourth member. Authorities have not said if the other student who was wounded is also on the team.
Ryan identified the three slain students as Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry.
Jones faces three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, university police Chief Timothy Longo Sr. said. It was not immediately clear when Jones would make his first court appearance.
His father, Chris Jones Sr., told Richmond TV station WTVR he was in disbelief after getting a call from police Monday.
“My heart goes out to their families. I don’t know what to say, except I’m sorry, on his behalf, and I apologize,” he said.
Jones’ mother, Margo Ellis, declined to be interviewed when reached by The Associated Press on Tuesday. “There’s so much going on,” she said.
Jones came to the attention of the university’s threat-assessment team this fall in the context of a review of a “potential hazing issue,” the university said in a statement provided to the AP on Tuesday.
