University President Jim Ryan said authorities did not have a “full understanding” of the motive or circumstances surrounding the shooting.
“The entire university community is grieving this morning,” a visibly strained Ryan said. “My heart is broken for the victims and their families and for all those who knew and loved them.”
Ryan identified the three students who were killed as: Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr and D’Sean Perry. He said one of the wounded students was hospitalised in critical condition, and the other was in good condition.
The shooting touched off an intense manhunt, with authorities conducting a building-by-building search of the campus while students sheltered in place for more than 12 hours. The lockdown order was lifted late Monday morning.
Police obtained arrest warrants for Jones charging him with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, Longo said.
Jones had once played on the football team, but he had not been a member of the team for at least a year, Longo said.
Jones came to the attention of the university’s threat assessment team this fall after a person unaffiliated with the school reported a remark Jones apparently made about possessing a gun, Longo said.
No threat was reported in conjunction with the concern about the weapon, but officials looked into it, following up with Jones’ roommate.
Longo also said Jones had been involved in a “hazing investigation of some sort.” He said he did not have all the facts and circumstances of that case, though he said the probe was closed after witnesses failed to co-operate.
In addition, officials learned about a prior incident outside Charlottesville involving a weapons violation, Longo said. That incident was not reported to the university as it should have been, he said.
Eva Surovell, the editor in chief of the student newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, said that after students received an alert about an active shooter late Sunday night, she ran to the parking garage, but saw that it was blocked off by police. When she went to a nearby intersection, she was told to go shelter in place.
“A police officer told me that the shooter was nearby, and I needed to return home as soon as possible,” she said.
She waited with other reporters, hoping to get additional details, then returned to her room to start working on the story. The gravity of the situation sunk in.
“My generation is certainly one that’s grown up with generalised gun violence, but that doesn’t make it any easier when it’s your own community,” she said.
Elsewhere, police in Moscow, Idaho were investigating the deaths of four University of Idaho students found on Sunday in a home near the campus.
Officers discovered the deaths when they responded to a report of an unconscious person, authorities said.
