Supposed UVA gunman dealt with gun charge in 2021
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.– When alleged University of Virginia shooter Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was pulled over by cops in Chesterfield, Virginia, on Feb. 26, 2021, officers found he had actually a taken pistol under his shirt in his waistband, according to an occurrence report acquired by ESPN on Thursday.When an officer
asked Jones whether the gun was his, he confessed was and said he had actually purchased it for $500 “from a guy at the [7-Eleven]” When the officer asked Jones whether he understood the gun was stolen, he replied, “No, but I believed it was questionable to purchase it,” according to the report.Jones told the
officer that “he wanted to have protection for his household because he lost two of his brothers.” The report stated officers took marijuana from the Mazda6 that Jones was driving, along with a Smith & Wesson 9 mm pistol and 15 9 mm cartridges.2 Associated
On June 10, 2021, Jones was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of having actually a hidden weapon in Chesterfield General Court. A judge fined him $100 and gave him a 12-month suspended sentence. The judge likewise issued a three-year good behavior bond because case, according to court records gotten by ESPN, and the judge purchased Jones to forfeit the firearm.At the time of that arrest, Jones also had impressive warrants on misdemeanor hit-and-run home damage and careless driving charges in Petersburg, Virginia. He was founded guilty of those charges on Oct. 28, 2021, and that judge also provided a 12-month suspended sentence on each of those charges.Jones, 22, is accused of shooting and eliminating
junior receivers Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler and junior protective end/linebacker D’Sean Perry on a charter bus Sunday night. Running back Mike Hollins is hospitalized after being shot in the back. A fifth individual on the bus, Virginia trainee Marlee Morgan, was also shot and remains in excellent condition.Prosecutors charged Jones with 3 felony charges of second-degree murder and firearm use in the commission of a felony, in addition to two counts of destructive wounding and additional gun-related charges related to shooting Hollins and Morgan. He is being held without bail in a Charlottesville jail.Virginia authorities stated they ended up being conscious of Jones’conviction on the misdemeanor concealed weapon charge while conducting their own investigation into a hazing event. On Sept. 15, a student alleged that Jones made a comment to him about having a weapon.”The reporting party did not see Mr. Jones in possession of a weapon,”a Virginia representative said in a statement.” The comment about owning a gun was not made in combination with a threat. In the course of their investigation, University officials talked with Mr. Jones ‘roomie, [who] offered no sign of the presence of any weapons.”After school authorities became aware that Jones had previously been tried and convicted of the misdemeanor weapons charge, they tried to contact him about the accusations of having a
weapon and the earlier event.”Throughout the investigation, Mr. Jones repeatedly declined to cooperate with University authorities who were looking for additional information about the claims that he had a firearm and about his failure to disclose the previous misdemeanor conviction,”according to the representative’s statement.On Wednesday night, University of Virginia president Jim Ryan stated the school will have an external evaluation of its interactions with Jones.”The criminal examination is underway, and we are likewise inviting an external evaluation
with respect to the university’s interactions with the suspect and whether we did all we might to avoid or avoid this disaster,”Ryan stated.”This will likely
take a while, but we will share and act on what we ultimately discover. It’s possible and perhaps most likely that we will never discover one single thing that will describe this. It might also be that we never ever completely comprehend why this took place, however what we discover, we will share.” Jones was a member of the football group for one semester throughout the 2018 season, a walk-on, according to athletic director Carla Williams.ESPN reporter Paula Lavigne added to this report.