The suspect accused of killing three University of Virginia football players made his first court appearance Wednesday. Northern Virginia Bureau Reporter Drew Wilder reports.
The suspect in Sunday night's fatal shooting at the University of Virginia appeared in Albemarle County General District Court virtually on Wednesday, and now faces formal charges in the tragedy that killed three students and hospitalized two others.
Christopher Darnell Jones, Jr. was charged with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of the use of a firearm in commission of a felony, two counts of malicious shooting with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill, and two counts of use of firearm in commission of felony malicious wounding.
The total ten charges were read out during his appearance in court via video conference, just before 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
The three murder charges are for the deaths of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D'Sean Perry, three football players for UVA. Chandler was a second-year student from Virginia Beach, Virginia; Davis was a third-year student from Ridgeville, South Carolina, and Perry was a fourth-year student from Miami, Florida.
The two counts of malicious shooting and felony malicious wounding are for the two students who were hospitalized, one in critical condition and the other in good condition as of Monday morning. They have not been identified to protect their privacy.
The shooting took place near the Culbreth campus parking garage on Culbreth Road in Charlottesville late Sunday night, aboard a bus full of students who had just returned from a field trip Sunday night after seeing a play in Washington, D.C., officials said.
It wasn't clear what relationship the suspect had with the victims, UVA Associate Vice President for Safety and Security and Chief of Police Tim Longo said. It is also not yet known what the motive for the shooting might be.
According to the prosecutor in Albemarle court on Wednesday morning, a witness said the suspect was aiming "at certain people" and "not randomly shooting."
Jones was taken into custody Monday morning "without incident" in Henrico County, Virginia, the county's police department said. His arrest came after a 12-hour overnight manhunt, during which students and staff on campus sheltered in place.
Classes and activities were canceled on Monday and Tuesday, allowing the UVA community to pay tribute to the students killed and to seek help after an unsettling 12-hour period.
A vigil was held on Monday night on UVA's campus to honor the five students killed or injured in the shooting. Thousands of students poured onto the lawn, sitting in deafening silence with their classmates to mourn.
On Wednesday, UVA canceled its final home game of the season in the wake of the shooting.
Virginia was set to host No. 23-ranked Coastal Carolina at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 19, but called off the game in the middle of the week — less than 72 hours after the three football players were killed.
It is unknown if Virginia will play its final game of the 2022 college football season against ACC and in-state rival Virginia Tech. That game is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 26, in Blacksburg.
“It feels like it’s a nightmare, to be honest with you, and I’m ready for somebody to pinch me and wake me up and say that this didn’t happen,” said first-year Virginia football coach Tony Elliott during a news conference Tuesday.
Jones will be seeking his own attorney in the trial, he said in court Wednesday, with a public defender representing him until he obtains that outside lawyer.
The prosecutor asked that Jones be held in custody until his next court appearance, given the severity of the charges. No bond was set during the Wednesday court appearance.
The next time Jones appears in court will be on Dec. 8, 2022.
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