A suspect was arrested on Monday for killing three University of Virginia football players and injuring two others in a campus shooting late Sunday night, police said.
As details still surface about the tragic deaths of four students from the University of Idaho on Sunday, the UVA community has begun the process of mourning and seeking justice. Both schools have canceled class on Monday. UVA also canceled class on Tuesday.
In the Virginia shooting, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. is facing three charges of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony.
Police said that around 10:30 p.m. Jones Jr. opened fire on a bus in an on-campus parking garage. The bus was returning from a field trip in Washington, D.C. The football players killed are linebacker D’Sean Perry and wide receivers Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler.
Jones Jr., who was listed as a running back for the football team during the 2018-2019 season, faced an administrative disciplinary action for allegedly failing to report a February 2021 criminal incident involving a concealed weapon violation, and was allegedly hazed while on the football team.
“I am holding the victims, their families, and all members of the University of Virginia community in my heart today, and we will make plans to come together as a community to grieve as soon as the suspect is apprehended,” University of Virginia President Jim Ryan tweeted early Monday morning.
Ryan Conn, a junior at UVA, described what happened Sunday night and how students reacted.
“We got a ‘shots fired’ alert at around 10:30 last night, followed by a hail of police alerts telling us all to shelter in place as the shooter had not been detained,” Conn said. “Naturally, rumors started swirling like crazy, but it was pretty clear multiple people had been hurt or injured based off of what could be heard on a police scanner, and a lot of people became very scared.”
From 2,500 miles away, USC students also felt the impact of the Virginia shooting. Desta Sahle, a sophomore biology major from Arlington, Virginia, was distraught about the tragedy.
“I was really scared when I first heard about the shooting,” Sahle said. “Half the people from my hometown go to UVA, so I was immediately thinking about them.”
Sahle wasn’t able to contact any of her UVA friends until Monday morning, adding that it “shakes the whole state.”
“Being from Virginia, you kind of grew up on UVA or Virginia Tech,” Sahle said. “Everyone has friends or family at these schools, so to hear something like this and know that it directly impacts so many of the people you know and love is really hard even from across the country.”
According to the New York Times, this is the fifth shooting on or near a Virginia college campus since February.
In Virginia, residents and non-residents alike can carry a concealed firearm with either a Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP), or a permit issued by their home state. Virginia CHPs are issued to anyone above the age of 21-years-old. CHP holders are required to complete a state-approved firearms training course and demonstrate competence with the firearm. However, no permit or registration is required when buying a handgun from a private individual – provided the buyer and seller are both Virginia residents.
In states like California, all gun purchases go through a state licensed gun dealer, and the buyer has to make an application to the licensed dealer.
According to the Giffords Law Center, states with stricter gun laws see a lower gun death rate. California, with stricter gun laws than most other states, has a 37% lower gun death rate than the national average, with 8.5 gun deaths per 100,000 people compared to the national average of 13.7. California’s gun death rate among children is 58% lower than the national average and marks the lowest in the country.
Miles Stoddart, USC electrical and computer engineering major, shared his thoughts on the threat of shootings at USC, saying, “The campus is extremely contained, you know, gates all around, and it feels like a different world from what’s around.”
A recent survey, which polled 1,000 Gen Z Americans, ages 13 through 25, showed that gun violence is the issue they’re most concerned about.
Though Stoddart feels safe on campus, he also believes that we should reconsider the Second Amendment.
“I think we need to put all guns on hold, open our eyes a little bit, and realize that this is really f-ed up and take some time to figure it out.”
Correction: In the previous version of this story, Miles Stoddart was spelled as Miles Stoddard. The story has been changed to reflect this correction on November 15 at 11:02 a.m. We regret the error.