3 dead, 2 wounded in shooting at UVA; manhunt underway for student suspect

CHARLOTTESVILLE — A fatal shooting at a University of Virginia parking garage killed three people wounded two others and sent police on a manhunt Monday in search of a student suspected in the attack, officials said.

Classes at the school were canceled Monday a day after the shooting and the Charlottesville campus seemed deserted as authorities searched for the suspect, who University of Virginia President Jim Ryan identified as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a former UVA football player.

In a letter to the university posted on social media, Ryan said the shooting around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

The university’s emergency management issued an alert on Sunday night notifying the campus community of an “active attacker firearm.” The message warned students to shelter in place following a report of shots fired on Culbreth Road on the northern outskirts of campus.

Access to the shooting scene was blocked by police vehicles Monday morning. The city and campus were far quieter than normal, with only a smattering of traffic and dog-walkers.

The UVA Police Department posted a notice online saying multiple police agencies including the state police were searching for a suspect who was considered “armed and dangerous.”

In his letter to campus, the university president said Jones was suspected to have committed the shooting and that he was a student, who was still at large Monday morning.

“This is a message any leader hopes never to have to send, and I am devastated that this violence has visited the University of Virginia,” Ryan wrote. “This is a traumatic incident for everyone in our community.”

The university’s emergency management Twitter account said shortly before 7 a.m. Monday that “a complete search on and around UVA Grounds” by law enforcement was underway and urged people on campus to remain sheltered.

Eva Surovell, 21, 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 generalized gun violence, but that doesn’t make it any easier when it’s your own community,” she said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said agents were responding to the campus to assist in the investigation.