Police a University of Virginia student and ex-UVA football player suspected of fatally shooting three current players and wounding two other people late Sunday at the school's main campus in Charlottesville as a bus returned from a class field trip, school officials said.
The suspect, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., faces three charges of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, UVA Police Chief Timothy Longo Sr. told reporters Monday morning as an hourslong manhunt came to an end and authorities lifted a campus lockdown order.
Jones was arrested without incident around 11 a.m. ET about 80 miles east of Charlottesville in Henrico County, the county police agency said in a statement. He was pulled over while driving, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Police have not offered a motive for the attack.
Those killed were Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D'Sean Perry, university President Jim Ryan said. The two wounded students are being treated at UVA Medical Center, with one in critical condition and the other in good condition, he said, declining to name them.
"This is a sad, shocking and tragic day for our UVA community," Ryan said. "Let me say how deeply sorry I am for the victims and for their family and friends."
At least 68 , including 15 on college campuses, CNN finds, with at least one person shot in each case, not including the shooter. The remains the 2007 attack at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, where a 23-year-old student killed 32 people before dying by suicide.
The shooting at the Charlottesville campus is also one of nearly 600 mass shootings in the US this year, , which like CNN tallies cases in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.
The attack happened Sunday on a bus returning from a class trip to Washington, DC, where the class had seen a play, university officials said. It was not immediately clear if Jones was part of that class or attended the field trip.
Police responded to a report of shots fired around 10:30 p.m. in an area near a parking garage on Culbreth Road and surrounded by academic buildings, Ryan said. Two slain victims were inside the bus, with the third victim taken to a hospital, where he died, Longo said.
The call prompted a shelter-in-place alert that was lifted about 12 hours later, Longo said. More than 500 people sheltered throughout campus buildings, including in libraries and classrooms, he said.
Monday classes at the university are canceled, as are those at Charlottesville City Schools, the K-12 district said in a letter to families. A UVA men's basketball game scheduled for Monday evening has also been canceled, the university said.
Suspect had been known to campus police
Jones had come to campus authorities' attention in September, when authorities found out Jones "had made a comment about possessing a gun" to someone "unaffiliated with the university," Longo said at Monday's news conference. But that person never actually saw the gun in question, he said.
"Through the course of the threat assessment team's investigation, we learned of a prior criminal incident involving a concealed weapon violation that occurred outside the city of Charlotteville in February of 2021," Longo said, adding the suspect was required to report that incident to the university but never did. The school's judicial council took over the case, and the results are pending.
Jones was also involved in a hazing investigation on campus that was closed because witnesses would not cooperate, Longo said.
It is "important to share that information with you," he said, "to let you know that he had been called to our attention."
Jones is listed on as a football player in 2018 who as a freshman did not participate in any games. He attended Varina High School and Petersburg High School, where he played football as a linebacker and running back, according to his university athletics bio. While in high school, Jones was Key Club president and a member of the National Honor Society and the National Technical Honor Society, the bio says.
Federal prosecutors working with local authorities
State and federal prosecutors are helping local agencies in the investigation, according to a joint statement from the US attorney for the Western District of Virginia and commonwealth's attorneys for Charlottesville and for Albemarle County. The officials pledged to support the investigation and "bring possible charges in the appropriate jurisdiction," the statement said.
Before the lockdown was lifted, UVA students early Monday were told to "take the shelter in place commands seriously as the situation remains active," vice president and chief student affairs officer Robyn Hadley said in to UVA's student body.
"We have all received several shelter in place texts, and they are frightening," Hadley said, adding several police jurisdictions were working to find the suspect. "I am on grounds like many of you; I am sheltering in place and in direct touch with University leadership and UPD ... If you are not inside and safe, immediately seek safety."
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday called the shooting a "horrific tragedy" and praised the work of law enforcement for taking the suspect into custody, according to a tweet. "While there are still many details to uncover, let us lift up the entire community in prayer." The governor earlier had said Virginia State Police were "fully coordinating" with school and local police.
Meantime, another US campus -- the University of Idaho -- is reeling after police announced a homicide inquiry after officers Sunday in a home just outside Moscow campus grounds. The deceased were students, and the cause of their deaths is not yet known, the university confirmed, adding the threat has ended.
Sunday's shooting is the University of Virginia's latest high-profile run-in with violence: White nationalists marched across campus carrying torches and . A day later, demonstrators protesting Charlottesville's plan to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee clashed with counterprotesters, one of whom was killed when a man drove his car into a crowd; that driver is serving life in prison.
A UVA lacrosse player five years earlier was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison , Yeardley Love, in her off-campus apartment.
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