Three young men who were football players at the University of Virginia were shot and killed by an ex-football player, said police.
Two other victims were shot and rushed to the hospital. UVA President Jim Ryan revealed that one was in good condition and the other was in critical condition.
In a news conference Monday morning, Ryan said that the shooting unfolded on a chartered school bus full of students returning from a field trip. According to officials, the trip was to see a play in Washington, D.C., and was associated with a class.
The victims were identified as D’Sean Perry, a fourth-year student from Miami; Devin Chandler, a second-year student from Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Lavel Davis Jr., a third-year student from South Carolina.
A high school football coach told NBC News that one of the injured was Cavaliers running back Michael Hollins, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
UVA Police Chief Timothy Longo said authorities secured an arrest warrant charging 22-year-old Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the alleged commission of a felony killing the 3 students.
The department said the suspect was taken into custody by Henrico County police in Richmond, Virginia, “without incident” just before 11 a.m., about 75 miles southeast of the UVA campus.
According to reports, he was a former member of the school’s football team. He was listed on the 2018 roster shared on the official website of the Virginia Cavaliers, but did not appear on the roster in any following seasons.
Officials explained Monday that Jones had landed on the radar of school authorities in the past years after they received information that he had possession of a gun.
Here’s more on the victims via NBC News.
Davis, 20, was a wide receiver on the Virginia Cavaliers’ current roster.
He was set to graduate in December and was a beloved first child and a “role model” to his younger brother and sister, his father, Thaddeus Lavel Davis, told NBC News.
The father said he was “heartbroken.”
An attorney for Perry’s parents, Happy and Sean Perry, issued a statement thanking the South Florida and the Charlottesville communities for “the outpouring of support during this impossibly tragic time.”
Chandler, a wide receiver, came to Virginia’s program after transferring from the University of Wisconsin.
“He had a lasting impact on his teammates, even after he left UW, which is a testament to the type of person he was,” interim Badgers coach Jim Leonhard said in a statement.
“His personality was infectious and he was a joy to be around. Our team is hurting for him and his family.”
We’re sending condolences to the families of the victims who lost their lives in this senseless act and praying for everyone who was affected by it.
