UVA shooting suspect was reportedly on school's radar for possible links to weapons violations
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares explains efforts to investigate the recent shooting on the University of Virginia campus that left three football players dead and two other students injured.
The University of Virginia shooting suspect accused of opening fire on a charter bus of classmates returning from a field trip to Washington, D.C. last month, killing three former football teammates and injuring a fourth college player and another student, is expected to appear in court on Thursday.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 23, is expected to appear at 9:30 a.m. in Charlottesville, FOX 5 DC reported.
It will serve as a status hearing in Albemarle County Court after Jones already was arraigned last month.
Jones is facing multiple felony charges, including three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The Nov. 13 shooting at an on-campus parking garage behind the drama department building killed UVA football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis and D'Sean Perry, and wounded surviving victims, UVA football player Michael Hollins Jr. and Marlee Morgan, a sophomore at the university.
A 12-hour manhunt ensued, and more than 500 students sheltered in place as authorities conducted a building-by-building search for the suspect until Jones’ eventual capture off-campus in Henrico, Virginia.
UVA shooting suspect Christopher Darnell Jones was arrested after a 12-hour manhunt. (The Henrico County Sheriff's Office; Fox News)
UVA canceled its final two football games of the season and scheduled a memorial service on campus.
UVA football team members also traveled to each of the three funerals for Chandler, Davis and Perry.
Authorities revealed Jones faced a prior hazing investigation and had been facing pending UVA administrative charges for failing to report a weapons violation that happened outside Charlottesville.
Jones, a former UVA football walk-on who never played any games, was caught carrying a concealed 9mm semiautomatic pistol during a traffic stop in Chesterfield County in February 2021. After pulling Jones over for no vehicle registration on file, officers found he was wanted in Petersburg on two outstanding charges of failing to stop for an accident, resulting in more than $1,000 in damages, and reckless driving for an August 2020 incident.
He was arrested and ultimately received two 12-month sentences. Both sentences were suspended.
UVA football player Michael Hollins Jr. is one of the two surviving victims of a shooting that also killed three of his teammates. (Credit: Virginia Cavaliers Official Athletic Site)
Despite UVA banning all firearms on campus regardless of permit status, a search of Jones’ on-campus second-floor dorm room in the aftermath of the charter bus shooting uncovered a semiautomatic rifle, a pistol, ammunition and a device designed to increase a weapon’s rate of fire.
A Virginia State Police agent conducting the search warrant reportedly found a Ruger AR-556 semiautomatic rifle, a Smith & Wesson Model 39 pistol, a box of Winchester .223 ammunition, two Glock 9-millimeter magazines, a gun-cleaning kit and a Franklin Armory binary trigger.
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