UVA shooting suspect’ told ex-teammates ‘You guys are always messing with me’ before killing

University of Virginia suspect Christopher Darnell Jones gave a grisly message to his ex-teammates “you always play with me” before allegedly killing them execution-style.

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, fatally shot D’Sean Perry, a linebacker for the school’s football team, wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler.

The three victims were members of the university’s football team. The students were on a bus returning to campus from a Washington DC field trip around 10:15 p.m. Sunday night when they were killed.

Students Dontayvion Wicks and Mike Hollins were injured but survived.

Ryan Lynch, 19, was on the bus with about two dozen students when Jones allegedly pulled out a gun and shot dead his former teammates.

Chris got up and pushed [victim] Lavel [Davis]. And after pushing him, he said, “You always play with me.” He said such a weird thing. But it was very bizarre because they didn’t talk to him the entire trip,” Lynch recalled in an on-camera interview with Philadelphia’s KYW-TV.

The pre-med student said she and her peers “thought he [Jones] was going to shoot everyone on the bus,’ Fox news reported.

She explained that the gunshots “kept coming,” and then described the gunman then “sort of just walking or hopping off the bus,” she told the station.

It remains unclear if Jones was one of the passengers on the bus, or if he was waiting for them to return to Virginia. The students had all been to Washington DC to attend a play as part of a field trip.

D’Sean Perry, a school team linebacker, had played for the school the previous day.

Jones was taken into custody Monday morning, some 12 hours after the crime. University officials have since revealed that he was reported to the student affairs office in September by someone who became concerned when he told them he owned a gun.

Jones was already known to the police and had been on their radar since September. He had been involved in a “criminal incident in which he was in possession of a concealed weapon.”

The candid revelations were made by police at a press conference Monday following Jones’s arrest following a 13-hour manhunt following shootings at the school’s Charlottesville campus.

“Because I want to be transparent with you, I want you to know that … in the fall of 2022, Mr. Jones came to the attention of the University of Virginia threat assessment team for being involved in some sort of hazing study,” That says Tim Longo, the school’s chief of police.

“I don’t know the facts and circumstances of that investigation. I know it was eventually closed due to witnesses not cooperating with the trial. But in the course of the threat assessment team’s investigation, they received information that Mr. Jones had made a comment about the possession of a weapon against a person not affiliated with the university,” he said.

Arrest warrants for Jones on Monday charged him with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a gun in the commission of a felony, Longo said.

“The incident involved a concealed gun violation that took place outside the city of Charlottesville in February 2021. What’s interesting about that case [is] he is required as a student at the University of Virginia to report that, and he never did, so the university has filed appropriate administrative charges with the university judiciary, and that case is still pending.”

The person who reported Jones to the police did not witness him with the weapon first hand – nor was he seen as a threat at the time.

When the school investigated the February 2021 allegation and contacted Jones’ roommates, no one could confirm they had ever seen him with a gun.

Nevertheless, Jones had also become known to the university’s threat assessment team following a hazing incident in which he was discovered to have a criminal record.

Jones faced a pending disciplinary case after failing to report the episode, as allegedly demanded by students at the school.

Police gave no details about what may have happened and the case was eventually closed when witnesses decided not to cooperate.

It was during the investigation into the hazing that the school “learned of a previous criminal incident involving a concealed weapons violation that took place outside the city of Charlottesville in February 2021.

“As a student at the University of Virginia, he is required to report that and he never did, so the university has filed appropriate administrative charges with the university judiciary and that case is still awaiting trial,” the deputy said. chief. “I’ll try to do better next time,” Longo said dejectedly.

University president Jim Ryan also spoke at the press conference, saying authorities did not have a “full understanding” of the motive or circumstances of the shooting.

“The entire university community is mourning this morning,” said a visibly tense Ryan.

It was not immediately clear whether Jones had a lawyer and when he would appear in court for the first time.

His father, Chris Jones Sr., told Richmond TV station WTVR he was in disbelief after receiving a call from the police on Monday.

My heart goes out to their families. I don’t know what to say except I’m sorry, on his behalf, and apologies,” he said.

Jones was once on the football team, but he hadn’t been on the team for at least a year, Longo said. The UVA football website listed him as a team member during the 2018 season, saying he did not play in any games.

The killings came at a time when the country was on edge for a series of mass shootings over the past six months, including an attack that killed 19 students and two teachers. elementary school in Uvalde, Texas; a shooting at one Fourth of July Parade in a Chicago suburb that killed seven people and injured more than 30; and a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New Yorkwhich killed 10 people and injured three.