The chief of the College of Virginia Police discovered throughout a press convention that the alleged gunman within the on-campus capturing had been captured.
UVA Police Chief Tim Longo was holding a live-streamed information briefing on Monday when he was knowledgeable by a captain that Christopher Darnell Jones, 22, had been taken into custody in connection to the capturing on the college’s most important campus in Charlottesville on Sunday night time.
“We simply acquired data the suspect is in custody,” Mr Longo mentioned on the presser. “Simply giving a second to thank God and breathe a sigh of reduction.”
Mr Jones’ arrest simply after 11am native time was introduced after warnings to the general public that he was thought-about “armed and harmful.” The manhunt plunged the college’s residences into lockdown as college students and employees had been commanded by UVA Police and the varsity administration to shelter in place and search security in the event that they weren’t inside already.
The suspect was discovered about 75 miles from the UVA campus round 11am on Monday. He was taken into custody by Henrico County Police in Richmond.
Officers first recognized the suspected shooter within the bloodbath simply after midnight on Monday, whereas sharing a headshot of the 22-year-old that gave the impression to be lifted from UVA’s athletics web site, as he was a former soccer participant for the varsity.
Mr Longo revealed {that a} UVA multidisciplinary menace evaluation workforce launched an investigation after receiving stories that Mr Jones made feedback about proudly owning a gun to a person unaffiliated with the college. Mr Longo mentioned that Mr Jones had not made threats on the time, however merely talked about he had a firearm.
“As a result of I wish to be clear with you, I would like you to know … Mr Jones got here to the eye of the College of Virginia’s menace evaluation workforce within the fall of 2022,” Mr Longo mentioned. “They acquired data that Mr Jones had made a remark about possessing a gun to an individual that was unaffiliated with the college.”
It’s unclear how the investigation unfolded, however Mr Longo mentioned that the person in query and Mr Jones’ roommate, who didn’t see the gun, had been questioned.
Mr Longo additionally talked about that Mr Jones had been investigated in connection to an alleged hazing incident however the inquiry fell aside after witnesses didn’t come ahead with data.
The workforce discovered that Mr Jones had violated protocol by not informing the college a couple of felony incident in February 2021 by which he had been concerned. The felony investigation passed off exterior of Charlottesville and was in relation to a hid weapon violation, NBC reported.
“He’s required as a scholar on the College of Virginia to report that and he by no means did, so the College has taken acceptable administrative expenses via the College’s judiciary council and that matter continues to be pending adjudication,” Mr Longo mentioned.
Mr Jones was a former soccer participant for the UVA and is included on the college’s athletics web site on the 2018 roster, although he didn’t seem in any video games.
The web site lists Mr Jones’ hometown as Petersburg, Virginia, the place he performed linebacker and operating again at Petersburg Excessive Faculty. He “earned honorable point out all-conference honors as a senior” and spent three years of his highschool schooling at Varina Excessive Faculty the place he earned honourable point out all-conference as a freshman and second-team accolades as a sophomore and junior.
The web site lists quite a few Mr Jones’ accomplishments at highschool, which embrace being a member of the Nationwide Honor Society and the Nationwide Technical Honor Society, serving as president of Key Membership and Jobs for Virginia Grads Program and being named the Pupil of the 12 months as a freshman and sophomore at Varina.
Linebacker D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr, and Devin Chandler had been the deadly victims within the capturing.
On Monday, Davis’s father Lavel Davis Sr wrote, “Lord please assist me,” on Fb, the Richmond Occasions-Dispatch reported. Davis, who was 6’7” tall, ranked No 2 within the nation and No 1 within the Atlantic Coast Convention for common yards per reception after the 2020 soccer season, the Related Press reported.
Perry’s grieving father Sean Perry additionally confirmed his son’s demise to the Richmond Occasions-Dispatch and mentioned that he and the sufferer’s mom Joyful had been flying from their hometown of Miami to Virginia.
Perry, who was 6’3” tall and weighed 230 kilos, was a linebacker and defensive finish for the Virginia Cavaliers soccer workforce – the identical College of Virginia workforce that Mr Jones made the roster for again in 2018. The 22-year-old soccer star performed simply hours earlier than his demise, when his workforce took on Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Jack Hamilton, a professor at UVA, mentioned on Twitter that each Chandler and Davis had been in his class and remembered the scholars as “great folks.”
“[D]evin was new to UVA final spring (he was a switch scholar) and I had him in a big lecture class. he nonetheless made a degree to come back to my workplace hours repeatedly, usually simply to ask questions on how issues labored round uva,” Mr Hamilton tweeted about Chandler.
“Later I helped him declare his American research main, which he was actually enthusiastic about. he was an unbelievably good particular person, all the time an enormous smile, actually gregarious and humorous. a kind of individuals who’s simply inconceivable to not like. It’s so unhappy and enraging that he’s gone.”