University of Virginia: ‘heartache and devastation’ after football team killings
People struggling to grasp why a former University of Virginia football player allegedly shot three team members dead on a bus last Sunday have found few answers, though the suspect’s father has said his son had become “paranoid” as he faced potential school discipline.
Christopher Darnell Jones Sr apologized to the families of D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr and Devin Chandler, who were killed, as well as two others who were wounded: Mike Hollins, another football player, and fellow student Marlee Morgan.
On Wednesday, a judge ordered Christopher Darnell Jones Jr, 22, held without bond. Jones Jr did not enter a plea. Appearing by video from jail, he told the judge he planned to hire an attorney, but the judge appointed a public defender for the time being. The judge also set a status hearing in the case for 8 December.
An Albemarle county commonwealth’s attorney, James Hingeley, gave a brief accounting of what police say happened. One witness told police the suspect shot Chandler as he slept. The witness said Jones was “aiming at certain people” and not shooting randomly, according to Hingeley.
Officers found Chandler and Perry dead on the bus, Hingeley added. Davis died at a hospital.
Court documents have offered no additional insight, and Hingeley did not address a possible motive. The public defender appointed to represent Jones did not address the substance of the charges. She declined comment outside court.
UVA announced that it was canceling its final home game of the season, scheduled for the weekend against Coastal Carolina.
Police have not said if Jones Jr had reason to be upset with those he allegedly shot. On Tuesday, Christopher Darnell Jones Sr told WWBT, a local TV station: “I don’t know what to say except I’m sorry on his behalf. I don’t know what happened to cause all of this.”
Officials did say Christopher Darnell Jones Jr was facing potential school discipline for failing to disclose a weapons possession conviction.
The shooting happened at about 10.15pm on Sunday, as students returned from seeing a play in Washington. Jones fled, setting off a manhunt that saw police search the Charlottesville campus building by building while students hid inside laboratory closets, darkened dorm rooms and away from windows.
Late on Monday morning, police arrested Jones about an hour away in Henrico, where his family lives. He faces three counts each of second-degree murder as well as charges of using a handgun in the commission of a felony and malicious wounding.
News of the killings set off a wave of grief in a community still traumatized by a white supremacist rally in 2017 marked by a deadly police helicopter crash and the murder of a counterprotester.
Thousands descended on the Lawn, at the center of campus, to honor the killed football players and pray for the wounded.
Hollins’ mother told Sports Illustrated
she had been able to see her son. He could not speak, she said, but wrote her a message: “How are my three teammates?”
“We are asking God that you will be with them, be with their families,” another football player told the crowd on the Lawn, Sports Illustrated reported. “Be with their families, be with Mike as he fights.”
The UVA coach, Tony Elliott, described “heartache and devastation” among the squad.
“These were incredible young men with huge aspirations and extremely bright futures,” Elliott said. “These precious young men were called away too soon.”
Jones Jr stood out in high school as a football player and as a student. He won plaudits as a running back and linebacker and was a member of the National Honor Society, a group that recognizes academic excellence. He presided over a community service club and was a two-time student of the year.
At UVA, he was on the football team for one season, his freshman campaign in 2018, as a running back. An injury prevented him from practicing or participating in any games, so he rehabilitated and underwent treatment.
He was under risk of being disciplined after university officials learned he failed to disclose his conviction last year on a misdemeanor charge of illegally concealed weapons, for which he was given probation and a fine.
In September, the school investigated him for potential hazing after a student reported that Jones “made a comment … about possessing a gun”, CNN reported, citing a university spokesperson. The student did not see a gun and investigators said there was “no indication of the presence of any weapons”.
Nonetheless, officials told CNN they were seeking more information about Jones’s conviction and the claim that he had a gun but “repeatedly refused to cooperate”.
When he last spoke with his son, the elder Jones told WBBT, Jones Jr seemed off in some way.
“He said some people were picking on him or whatever – he didn’t know how to handle it, and I told him just go to school, don’t pay it any mind,” Jones Sr said. “He was really paranoid … about something, but he wouldn’t tell me everything.”
Under Virginia state law, Jones Jr faces between five and 40 years in prison if convicted of murder.
“I don’t know why he didn’t call me” before the shooting, Jones Sr said. “If he had called me Saturday, I think maybe I could have talked him out of some things, maybe, hopefully.”