Ex-student pleads guilty to fatally shooting 3 University of Virginia football players in 2022

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A former University of Virginia student pleaded guilty Wednesday to fatally shooting three football players and wounding two other students on the campus in 2022.

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 25, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated malicious wounding and five counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. A four-day sentencing hearing is scheduled to open Feb. 4 in Albemarle County Circuit Court.

Prosecutors read a summary in court Wednesday of what they allege happened the day of the shooting, including chilling details not publicly released before.

While riding on the bus in the hours before the shooting, Jones texted an adult mentor he had known for several years and stated, “tonight I’m either going to hell or jail. I’m sorry,” according to the summary. The Associated Press obtained a draft copy of the summary.

Jones had been scheduled to stand trial in January on charges including aggravated murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole in Virginia. The first-degree murder charges he pleaded guilty to in a plea agreement with prosecutors carry a sentence of 20 years to life.

Authorities said Jones opened fire aboard a charter bus as he and other students arrived back on campus after seeing a play and having dinner together in Washington, D.C. The shooting erupted near a parking garage and prompted a 12-hour lockdown of the Charlottesville campus until the suspect was captured. Many at the school of some 23,000 students huddled inside closets and darkened dorm rooms, while others barricaded the doors of the university's stately academic buildings.

The university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 also endured the violent “Unite the Right” rally in 2017, which drew hundreds of white nationalists protesting the planned removal of a Confederate statue. A car plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one person and injuring several others.

Authorities had not released a motive in the shooting by Jones, a former member of the university’s football team. Football players Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed, while a fourth team member, Mike Hollins, and another student, Marlee Morgan, were wounded.

Jones’ time on the team did not overlap with the players he shot, according to the draft copy of the prosecutors’ summary. And there was no indication Jones and the players knew each other or interacted until briefly before the shooting.

A witness previously told police that Jones had targeted specific victims.

The summary read by prosecutors said one student told authorities that on the bus ride back to campus, he heard Jones quietly talking to himself, saying, among other things, “I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't mean to offend you," “I've been through so much in my life,” and “I don't have any weapons,"

Jones turned irritable after the football players arrived at the start of the trip, prosecutors said. Jones also sat alone at the play and on the ride home.

A woman who had previously rejected Jones romantically had swapped phone numbers with Chandler, one of the men who was later killed, according to prosecutors.

Jones told his adult mentor via text before the shooting to, “Just tell my story. I was a good guy I never meant or initiated any harm to anyone,” prosecutors also stated.

In his final message, Jones typed, “they not getting off this bus.”

Jones also texted several family members, including his mother, to say he loved them, according to prosecutors. He also told his younger brother that something might happen, adding a siren emoji.

During the rampage, Jones “methodically checked each seat until he reached the back of the bus” to shoot some of his victims, the summary said.

The university's president, Jim Ryan, said Jones' guilty plea represents “another step in a lengthy and painful journey for the families of the victims and for our community.”

“We continue to grieve the loss of three beloved members of our community and the injuries suffered by others on the bus,” Ryan's statement added.

Within days of the shooting, university leaders asked for an outside review to investigate the school's safety policies and procedures, its response to the violence and its prior efforts to assess the potential threat of the student charged. School officials acknowledged Jones previously was on the radar of the university’s threat-assessment team.

In June, Kimberly Wald, a lawyer representing some of the victims and their families, announced that the university agreed to pay $9 million in a settlement. Wald said the university should have removed Jones from campus before the attack because he displayed multiple red flags through erratic and unstable behavior.

Attorney Michael Haggard, who represented the families of three of the five shooting victims in the civil case, said they were initially opposed to a plea agreement because they wanted Jones to face trial and receive the maximum punishment possible under the aggravated murder charges, which is life without the possibility of parole.

“It was difficult for them. They would have wanted more, but they are anxiously awaiting this sentencing. They want life in prison,” Haggard said.

Haggard said the families are eager for the release of the report on the independent investigation, adding, “They wanted a trial to learn more about what the heck happened.”

University officials said they had postponed the report’s release last year over concerns it could affect Jones' trial. The school leadership said in a statement Wednesday that they plan its release once sentencing is final in February.

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Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.

Ben Finley And Denise Lavoie, The Associated Press