Charlottesville, Virginia — The University of Virginia was put on lockdown Monday morning and classes were canceled as police searched for a student in connection with a fatal shooting the night before. The university’s president confirmed in a letter to the community that three people were killed and two others were injured in Sunday night’s shooting.
The suspect was identified as college student Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. With UVA Chancellor Jim Ryan and UVA Police Force, still at large, a “full search” of the campus is underway. Police released the photo below of Jones, who was listed as a member of the University of Virginia football team in 2018 when he was a freshman, from the university’s sports website.
A warning was issued late Sunday night for students and staff to shelter in place after reports of shootings on campus. The university’s emergency management department posted an “active attacker gun” alert on Twitter at 10:42 p.m.
“Shooting on Calbraith Road, suspect at large, considered armed and dangerous,” Ryan said in a tweet, asking the university community to “please shelter in place.”
Ryan later sent the letter to the university community, saying he was “deeply saddened to report that the shooting has resulted in three deaths” and that two others were hospitalized with unspecified wounds.
The UVA Police Department also posted a notice online that multiple police agencies were looking for a suspect deemed “armed and dangerous.”
Ryan said in his Monday morning letter that only designated essential personnel would be allowed to work.
A UVA student living in a dorm near Culbreth Road said she heard six shots, the Richmond Times reported.