University of Virginia student due in court for allegedly gunning down three classmates

(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) — As classes resume at the University of Virginia on Wednesday, a 22-year-old student is due in court for allegedly gunning down three classmates in a mass shooting on campus.

Two other students were injured in the shooting that unfolded on a bus as it returned to Charlottesville on Sunday night from a field trip in Washington, D.C.

The suspect, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., was taken into custody Monday morning following an overnight manhunt. His arraignment is set for Wednesday morning at Albemarle General District Court.

The three slain students, Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, were all members of the football team, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan said.

Jones was a running back for the football team in 2018, though he never played in a game. Virginia Athletics Director Carla Williams said Jones was a student beginning in 2018 and was a walk-on for one semester. She said “there was no overlap” on the team between Jones and the victims, adding that she doesn’t “know if there was any interaction outside of the class.”

A motive is not clear, Ryan said Monday.

Jones is facing three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, according to UVA Police Chief Timothy Longo. Charges could change, he said.

Albemarle County Commonwealth Attorney James Hingeley confirmed to ABC News that Jones also faces two counts of malicious wounding of the two other students.

As UVA students mourn, classes are resuming on Wednesday. But undergraduates aren’t required to finish any graded assignments or take exams before Thanksgiving break, Ryan said.

As of Tuesday, the football team had not decided if it’ll play this Saturday’s scheduled game against Coastal Carolina.

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