Search underway for student after 3 shot dead, 2 wounded at University of Virginia

(CNN) — A manhunt is underway for a University of Virginia student suspected of fatally shooting three people and wounding two others late Sunday at the school’s main campus in Charlottesville, where students and others remain on lockdown, police and the university’s president said.

Police teams on the ground and by helicopter Monday morning are searching for ex-football player Christopher Darnell Jones, Jr., who is believed to be armed and dangerous, university president Jim Ryan and police said Monday. Darnell is described as wearing a burgundy jacket with blue jeans and red shoes, and may be driving a black SUV with license plate TWX3580, police said.

“The law enforcement search on and around UVA grounds continues. Remain sheltered in place. Expect increased law enforcement presence,” UVA Police tweeted around 7:30 a.m. ET. Monday classes are canceled.

UVA Alert: THE LAW ENFORCEMENT SEARCH ON AND AROUND UVA GROUNDS CONTINUES. REMAIN SHELTERED IN PLACE. EXPECT INCREASED LAW ENFORCEMENT PRESENCE.

— UVA Police Department (@UVAPolice) November 14, 2022

The shelter-in-place alert went out around 10:40 p.m. after a shooting was reported on Culbreth Road, the University of Virginia Police Department tweeted.

University officials have not identified the victims or said whether they were students. The two people wounded were getting medical care, Ryan said, adding he was devastated “that this violence has visited the University of Virginia.”

The shooting at the Charlottesville campus is one of nearly 600 mass shootings in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which like CNN tallies cases in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.

At least 68 shootings have unfolded this year on US school grounds, including 15 on college campuses, CNN finds, with at least one person shot in each case, not including the shooter.

Jones is listed on UVA’s athletics website as a football player in 2018 who as a freshman did not participate in any games.

The UVA Police Department is looking for Christopher Darnell Jones regarding the shooting incident that occurred on the grounds of the University of Virginia. Call 911 if seen, do not approach. pic.twitter.com/mKcxF6ksxw

— UVA Police Department (@UVAPolice) November 14, 2022

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 an email 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.”

Meantime, another US campus — the University of Idaho — is reeling after police announced a homicide inquiry after officers Sunday discovered four people deceased 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.

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