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Former University of Virginia (UVA) student Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who killed three of the school’s football players with a gun in 2022, was sentenced Friday to the maximum five life sentences, plus 23 years on gun charges.
Jones reportedly apologized to the victims’ family at the courthouse, saying, “I’m sorry,” according to Charlottesville-based outlet Cville Right Now. “I caused so much pain.”
Last year, Jones pleaded guilty to the murders of D’Sean Perry, Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler, two counts of aggravated malicious wounding and five counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. A fourth team member, Mike Hollins, and another student, Marlee Morgan, suffered injuries.
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A booking photo released by the Henrico County Sheriff’s Office shows Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who was arrested on Nov. 14, 2022, after killing three University of Virginia football players. (Henrico County Sheriff’s Office via AP, file)
Jones previously joined the UVA football team as a walk-on true freshman in 2018, but has never played in a game. After leaving the team, he was still enrolled at the university as a student.
Then came the day he committed the murders.
While driving back to campus from a school trip on a charter bus in the hours before the shooting, Jones texted an adult mentor and said, “Tonight I’m either going to hell or jail. I’m sorry,” according to a summary prosecutors read in court Wednesday. The Associated Press obtained a draft copy of the summary.
UVA TO PAY $9 MILLION TO VICTIMS’ FAMILIES IN 2022 SHOOTING THAT KILLED 3 FOOTBALL PLAYERS, INJURED 2 OTHERS
Authorities said Jones opened fire aboard a charter bus as he and other students arrived back on campus after seeing a play and having dinner together in Washington, DC
The shooting broke out near a parking garage and led to a 12-hour lockdown of the Charlottesville campus until the suspect was captured. Many at the school of about 23,000 students huddled inside closets and darkened dormitories, while others barricaded the doors to the university’s stately academic buildings.
During the vandalism, Jones “methodically checked every seat until he reached the back of the bus” to shoot some of his victims, the summary states.
Within days of the shooting, university leaders asked for an external review to examine the school’s security policies and procedures, its response to the violence and its previous efforts to assess the potential threat posed by the accused student. School officials acknowledged that Jones was previously on the radar of the university’s threat assessment team.
In June 2024, a lawyer representing some of the victims and their families announced that the university agreed to pay $9 million in a settlement.
Wald said the university should have removed Jones from campus before the attack because he showed multiple red flags through erratic and erratic behavior.
