Christopher Darnell Jones Jr was arrested hours after a fatal shooting that killed 3 University of Virginia football players and injured a few others. The students were on the way back from a play the class watched together. The three students who died were well-known Cavalier football players. The devastation struck the entire school, but certainly left hearts broken for the rest of the team. The coach and athletic director are doing all they can to ensure the students have the resources and help they need to avoid slipping into isolation and instead move forward from this devastating act. The message being passed along to students and faculty is to remember to celebrate the life of those who died and remember the legacy each one of them leaves behind.

Jones now faces 3 counts of second-degree murder and 3 counts of use of a firearm. He is expected to appear in court on Wednesday for a bond hearing. We have learned since this tragedy happened that Jones was a walk-on football player in 2018 but did not get to play in any of the games due to a pre-existing injury.  He was a student at the University of Virginia since 2017 and did not have the best record since his start there.  Upon further investigation, it has been discovered that Jones was the subject of another campus case due to a possible hazing situation. One student came forward to say that Jones had mentioned he had a gun, but the gun was never seen by this witness. The suspect’s roommate denied knowing or seeing Jones with a gun as well. Jones was, however, convicted of a misdemeanor weapons charge in 2021. He was not cooperating with the university regarding his weapons case and therefore, school officials requested disciplinary action. Virginia authorities say they still do not completely understand the suspect’s motive.

Jones’ father states that he had been acting “real paranoid” recently and mentioned that some kids were picking on him and he didn’t know how to handle it. In this conversation, Jones’ dad advised him to just go to class and ignore them. He goes on to apologize for his son’s actions. It was also noted that Jones was recognized at his high school as the football team’s star running back and linebacker. In addition, he was also part of the National Honor Society, president of the Key Club, and named student of the year for both his freshman and sophomore years, leaving everyone very confused as to why this happened.