Man pleads guilty to 2022 murders of three Virginia players

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A former University of Virginia student pleaded guilty Wednesday to fatally shooting three football players and wounding two other students on the Charlottesville campus in 2022.

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 25, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated malicious wounding and five counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. A four-day sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin Feb. 4 in Albemarle County Circuit Court. Jones faces a maximum punishment of five life terms plus 23 years, according to a statement from UVA.

Authorities said Jones opened fire on a charter bus as he and other students arrived back on campus after seeing a play and having dinner together in Washington, D.C.

Authorities had not released a motive. Jones was a former member of the Virginia football team at the time of the shooting. A witness told police that he had targeted specific victims.

Football players Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed, while a fourth member of the team, Mike Hollins, and another student, Marlee Morgan, were wounded.

“Today, we sat eye to eye with the defendant as he plead guilty to ALL charges,” the Perry family said in a statement to ESPN. “It is now in God’s hands. We ask the public to join us at the open sentencing hearing so that we can send the message to the defendant and the judge on the impact of the actions the defendant took on November 13, 2022 and what each life meant!!”

“Today’s proceedings represent another step in a lengthy and painful journey for the families of the victims and for our community,” UVA president Jim Ryan added in a statement. “We continue to grieve the loss of three beloved members of our community and the injuries suffered by others on the bus.”

The shooting erupted near a parking garage and set off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured.

Within days of the shooting, university leaders had asked for an outside review to investigate Virginia’s safety policies and procedures, its response to the violence and its prior efforts to assess the potential threat of the student who was eventually charged. School officials acknowledged he previously had been on the radar of the university’s threat-assessment team.

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

Kimberly Wald, an attorney who represents some of the families, said at the time that the school would pay $2 million each to the families of the three students who died, the maximum allowable under Virginia law. The school would also pay $3 million total to the two students who were wounded.

Following the settlement, some of the families had also called for the immediate release of an independent investigation into the shooting, which was completed last year.

Wald had said the university should have removed Jones from campus before the attack because he displayed multiple red flags through erratic and unstable behavior.

“We were thrown in the fire on that horrific night when our phone rang,” the Perry family statement continued. “The time is now that we demand change!! It’s time that we protect our children. We have the right to be safe in our homes, on our street and at our schools!! We have a right to be safe!!”

University officials said they had postponed the report’s release last year over concerns that it could affect a trial that had been scheduled for January. UVA said in Wednesday’s statement that university leaders have committed to release copies of the external review at the end of the criminal proceedings, and plan to provide the documents to the public after sentencing.

ESPN’s Andrea Adelson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.