A University of Virginia football player is behind bars after a 13-hour manhunt and stands accused of fatally shooting three teammates and hurting two others on a school bus Sunday.
Police now say that Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, was on their radar since September over a criminal incident involving a concealed weapon and a hazing incident.
“Because I want to be transparent with you, I want you to know that Mr. Jones came to the attention of the University of Virginia’s threat assessment team in the fall of 2022 because he was involved in a hazing investigation of some sort,” the school’s chief of police revealed Monday.
“I don’t know the facts and circumstances of that investigation. I know it was eventually closed due to witnesses who would not cooperate with the process. But through the course of the threat assessment team’s investigation, they received information that Mr. Jones had made a comment about possessing a gun to a person that was unaffiliated with the university.”
Jones was charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony in connection with the fatal shootings of Devin Chandler, D’Sean Perry, and Lavel Davis Jr. on the school’s Charlottesville campus.
The suspect’s father told local news outlets that he was in shock over the allegations against his son after he got a call from authorities.
“My heart goes out to their families. I don’t know what to say, except I’m sorry, on his behalf, and I apologize.”
