Man who shot and killed University of Virginia football players sentenced to five life sentences

Former University of Virginia (UVA) student Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who shot and killed three of the school’s football players in 2022, was sentenced Friday to a maximum of five life sentences, plus 23 years, on weapons charges.

Jones reportedly apologized to the victims’ families in court and said, “I’m sorry. I caused a lot of pain,” according to Charlottesville-based outlet Cville Right Now.

Last year, Jones pleaded guilty to the murder 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 member of the team, Mike Hollins, and another student, Marlee Morgan, suffered injuries.

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Jones previously joined the UVA football team as a true freshman in 2018, but never played in a game. After leaving the team, he remained enrolled at the university as a student.

Then came the day of the murders.

While returning to campus from a school trip on a charter bus in the hours before the shooting, Jones texted an adult mentor, telling him, “I’m going to hell or jail tonight. I’m sorry,” according to a summary prosecutors read in court Wednesday. The News obtained a draft copy of the summary.

UVA WILL PAY $9 MILLION TO RELATIVES OF VICTIMS IN 2022 SHOOTING THAT KILLED 3 FOOTBALL PLAYERS AND INJURED 2 OTHERS

Authorities said Jones opened fire aboard a charter bus as he and other students returned to campus after seeing a play and having dinner in Washington, DC.

The shooting broke out near a parking lot and prompted a 12-hour lockdown of the Charlottesville campus until the suspect was captured. Many at the school of about 23,000 students huddled inside dark closets and dormitories, while others blocked the doors to the university’s stately academic buildings.

During the rampage, Jones “methodically went through each seat until he reached the back of the bus” to shoot some of his victims, according to the summary.

Within days of the shooting, university leaders called for an external review to investigate the school’s security policies and procedures, its response to the violence and its previous efforts to assess the potential threat from the accused student. School officials acknowledged that Jones was previously on the radar of the university’s threat assessment team.

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In June 2024, a lawyer representing some of the victims and their families announced that the university had agreed to pay $9 million in deal.

Wald said the university should have removed Jones from campus before the attack because he showed multiple warning signs through erratic and unstable behavior.

The News contributed to this report.

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