Police searched Monday for a University of Virginia student suspected of killing three and wounding two others in a mass shooting on the school’s main campus on Sunday night.
University President Jim Ryan issued a statement early Monday confirming the suspect, Christopher Darnell Jones, Jr., was “one of our students.” Emergency shelters were sent out after the attack around 10:40 p.m. Sunday night, with the University of Virginia Police Department maintaining the order through Monday morning.
They added that multiple authorities were looking for Jones, who is believed to be armed and dangerous. Jones is listed on the university’s athletics website as a 2018 soccer player who did not play a game, although it is unclear if he remains a student at UVA.
Jones’ mother, Margo Ellis, told The Daily Beast she “is not currently speaking to reporters” when contacted by phone on Monday.
While authorities have yet to release the identity of the victims, D’Sean Perry’s father confirmed to Charlottesville’s Daily Progress that his son was one of those killed. Perry, 22, was a linebacker who also played for the Virginia Cavaliers college football team.
His father, Sean Perry, said D’Sean was shot on a parking deck in the campus’ Culbreth Garage. He added that he and Sean’s mother, Happy Perry, flew to Virginia from their hometown of Miami on Monday.
A second football player, Lavel Davis Jr., was identified as another victim by his cousin. The wide receiver was named in a by Newbury College assistant football coach Sean Lampkin tweet Monday. “Sad, sad news this morning,” Lampkin wrote. “God took one of his kindest, humblest, most loving soldiers from the battlefield last night. Please pray for my family as we are devastated by the death of my cousin Lavel Davis Jr. I love you and already miss you little one.”
A motive for the attack is still unclear.
In a 2018 article about Jones, the Richmond Times-Dispatch painted a picture of a difficult childhood marked by “a broken family, school fights, and suspensions.” Jones told the outlet that his father, who left when Jones was only five, “was one of the most traumatic things that’s happened to me.” The play added that Jones attended an alternative school where he was able to avoid bullying and that he moved in with his grandmother in Petersburg in 2016 after his relationship with his mother deteriorated. It also said that in the two years before he joined UVA, “mentors helped him release his anger.”
The UVA canceled classes Monday because the Shelter-in-Place order remained in effect, although the order was lifted around 10:30 a.m. “based on a thorough search in and around” the college grounds This was announced by the UVA police authority. Charlottesville City Schools have also canceled classes for their 4,000 students. In a message to staff and families, the school system said the decision was made “to give police time to investigate while they search our community for the suspect.”
On Monday, Virginia Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine delivered messages of support to the families of the victims. “Thinking of all affected by the tragic act of violence on the UVA campus,” Warner wrote.
“Heartbroken to hear of another Virginia community destroyed by gun violence,” Kaine tweeted. “I am praying for the UVA community and am monitoring the situation closely.” He added, “We must take further action to make our communities safer.”