As previously reported by REVOLT, on Sunday (Nov. 13), a gunman opened fire on campus at the University of Virginia. Three members of the school’s football team were shot and killed during the tragedy and two others were injured. Police named Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, as a suspect and took him into custody yesterday (Nov. 14).
Later that day, Richmond, Virginia news station NBC 12 spoke with the suspect’s father, Christopher Darnell Jones Sr. He told the outlet that his son, also a member of the football team, was being picked on. “I can’t believe it was him. I still can’t believe it now,” the stunned father began during the interview. Jones Sr. said he hadn’t talked to his son in about a month, but that the last time they saw each other, he seemed okay. “He came to the house. He did his laundry. We sat and talked and he seemed like he was doing really well,” he shared.
Jones Sr. revealed he later learned his son was having troubles with other University of Virginia students. “When we finally had a chance to talk, he said there were some people there who were giving him a hard time, but he still was upbeat, and he was positive. I don’t know what happened between then and now to cause this to happen,” the grieving father said. While expressing his sadness regarding the situation, he mentioned he wished things would’ve gone differently. “Why did it have to get this far? He could’ve called me… If he had called me Saturday, I think maybe I could have talked him out of some things,” Jones Sr. told NBC 12.
The 22-year-old is accused of shooting his fellow teammates on a school bus as the student-athletes returned from a field trip on Sunday. Authorities have identified the deceased victims as Devin Chandler of Virginia Beach; Lavel “Tyler” Davis of Dorchester, South Carolina; and D’Sean Perry of Miami, Florida. Jones Sr. offered his condolences to all of those affected by the act of violence.