Former Virginia student Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. pleads guilty to shooting and killing three football stars
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a former University of Virginia student, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder this week in the shooting deaths of three UVA football players.
Jones’ request comes after Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed in 2022. All three young men played for the UVA Cavaliers football team. A fourth member of the group, Mike Hollins, and another student, Marlee Morgan, were injured.
Jones’ influence on the football team extended to the players who shot, according to information in a draft copy of the prosecutors’ brief, but there was no indication that Jones and the players had a relationship.
Jones is charged with three counts of murder, two counts of aggravated assault and five counts of using a firearm in the commission of a crime. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 4 and is expected to last four days.
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Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a former University of Virginia student, filed a lawsuit this week in connection with the shooting deaths of three members of the university’s football team. (AP/IMAGN newsroom)
While riding back to campus from a school trip on a chartered bus in the hours before the shooting, Jones texted an old counselor, saying, “Tonight I’m going to hell or jail. I’m sorry,” according to the summary. prosecutors read it in court on Wednesday. The Associated Press obtained a draft copy of the summary.
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Jones was scheduled to go on trial in January on charges including aggravated murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole in Virginia. The murder charges he pleaded guilty to in a plea deal with prosecutors carry a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.
Authorities say Jones opened fire on a charter bus as he and other students returned to campus after seeing a play and dinner together in Washington, DC.
University of Virginia football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and DSean Perry. (University of Virginia Athletics)
The shooting happened near a parking garage, prompting a 12-hour lockdown in Charlottesville until the suspect is apprehended. Many at the school of about 23,000 students huddled inside darkened rooms and dormitories, while others closed the doors of the university’s high-rise academic buildings.
During the protest, Jones “looked from seat to seat to the back of the bus” to shoot some of his victims, the summary said.
Authorities have not released details on a motive for Jones’ shooting.
University of Virginia students participate in a vigil in response to the campus shooting in Charlottesville, Nov. 14, 2022. (Mike Kropf/The Daily Progress via AP)
The university’s president, Jim Ryan, said Jones’ plea represents “another step in a long and painful journey for the victims’ families and our community.”
“We continue to be saddened by the loss of three members of our community and the injuries to others on the bus,” Ryan said in a statement.
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Days after the shooting, university leaders called for an outside review to investigate the school’s security policies and procedures, its response to the violence and earlier efforts to investigate whether a student could be charged. School officials acknowledged that Jones had previously been on the radar of the university’s threat assessment team.
In June, Kimberly Wald, an attorney representing some of the victims and their families, announced that the university had agreed to pay $9 million to settle the matter. Wald said the university should have removed Jones from campus before the attack because he raised many red flags for unusual and unstable behavior.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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