Father Of Accused UVA Gunman Says His Son Felt Picked On, Paranoid

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — Thousands of University of Virginia students gathered on the south lawn of the campus for a candlelight vigil Monday night to honor three of their fellow students who were gunned down Sunday night after traveling to Washington, D.C., to watch a play.

At the vigil, the crowd sang "Amazing Grace" for the three students who were killed. Classes at UVA were canceled again on Tuesday in the wake of the shooting.

Meanwhile, the accused gunman's father told a TV station that his son was troubled and felt picked on at the university in recent weeks.

The slain students, members of the UVA football team, were junior receiver Lavel Davis Jr., 20, of Dorchester, South Carolina; junior receiver Devin Chandler of Huntersville, North Carolina; and junior defensive end/linebacker D'Sean Perry, 22, of Miami. Two other students on the bus were injured in the shooting.

The suspect in the shooting, identified by the university as UVA student Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, was taken into custody around 11 a.m. on Monday in Henrico County, about 70 miles east of Charlottesville. He has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder.

Officials said the bus chartered to take the students to D.C. on Sunday was riddled with bullet holes after the shooting. Two of the students — Perry and Chandler — were found dead inside the bus, officials said. Davis died at a hospital.

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On Tuesday, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin ordered flags in the state to remain at half-staff on the grounds at UVA and at the state Capitol in Richmond and all local, state and federal buildings in Virginia until Thursday at sunset in memory of the shooting victims.

Among the students injured in the shooting, Mike Hollins, a junior and a running back on the football team, was scheduled to undergo a second surgery on Tuesday, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“Family, Mike will be going in for his 2nd surgery at 8am. Keep praying!!! And please keep praying for all of the families that are going through this horrific tragedy,” Brenda Hollins wrote.

The other student who was injured in the shooting has not been identified.

On its Facebook page, UVA wrote that it "truly appreciates all the support from all over the country today."

"Our hearts are broken at the loss of three members of our community, Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry and our two UVA students currently receiving care from our medical center," the university said.

Perry's father shared the last texts that he and his son exchanged, according to CBS News.

"Everything good sir? Just checking up," Perry's father, Sean Perry, texted him Saturday night after the Cavaliers lost a game to Pittsburgh.

"Yea, you watched the game today?" D'Sean Perry responded.

The next day, Sean Perry texted his son again. "Keep on working," the father said in a text to his son on Sunday at 6 p.m., a few hours before the shooting on the UVA campus, CBS News reported.

Seeking Clues To A Motive

Jones' father, Chris Jones Sr., told WTVR that his son had been “real paranoid” about something before the shootings. “He wouldn’t tell me everything,” he said.

The father said his son told him about a month ago that people were picking on the accused shooter and that he did not know how to handle it. The father advised his son to just go to class and ignore them, according to the report.

Chris Jones Sr. apologized for his son’s alleged actions and said he could not believe it was him when police told him about the fatal shootings.

One of the witnesses to the shooting, Ryan Lynch, a sophomore at UVA, said in an interview with CBS News that Jones confronted one of the football players on the bus, saying, "You guys are always messing with me."

"But it was very bizarre because they didn't talk to him the whole trip," Lynch said of the players who were shot.

Questions continue to surround potential warnings signs of the fatal shooting.

On Sept. 15, UVA officials learned that the younger Jones had talked about possessing a gun. A student who reported the conversation said he never saw a gun, and no threat was made at the time. The student made the report as part of a hazing investigation, UVA spokesman Brian Coy told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

UVA employees spoke with Jones’ roommate, who had not seen a gun.

As part of the investigation, UVA learned that Jones had been convicted of a misdemeanor concealed weapons violation in 2021. He received a 12-month suspended sentence and a small fine. It is unclear where the violation took place, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Jones refused to cooperate with the university’s investigation when they were seeking additional details about the claim that he had a firearm in his possession and that he had been convicted of a weapons violation, according to the report.

On Oct. 27, UVA then started the process of bringing disciplinary action against Jones, Coy told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Jones was an A student at Petersburg High School and graduated fifth in his class. While in high school, he was elected president of the Key Club and earned a $2,500 scholarship in an annual program sponsored by the T-D and Richmond Sports Backers.

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