Three People Were Shot Dead At The University Of Virginia And The Shooter Is Still At Large

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Three people are dead and two others are injured after a shooting at the University of Virginia. The shooter is still at large.

The gunfire broke out around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday at a parking garage on campus, according to tweets from the University of Virginia Office of Emergency Management. Students were told to “shelter in place” — or “RUN HIDE FIGHT” if they couldn’t.

A photo of the suspect released by campus police

UVA campus police

Campus police identified the suspected shooter as Christopher Darnell Jones, who university president Jim Ryan said is “one of our students.” As of Monday morning, a search is still underway for Jones, with officials warning he should be considered “armed and dangerous.”

The photo of Jones shared by police also appears on the website for the school’s football team. He is listed on the team’s 2018 roster, which notes he “did not appear in any games.”

In an email to the student body, Ryan said he was “heartbroken to report that the shooting has resulted in three fatalities.”

Two others are being treated for injuries, he added.

“This is a message any leader hopes never to have to send, and I am devastated that this violence has visited the University of Virginia,” Ryan wrote.

Classes were canceled Monday, and only “designated essential employees” were told to come to work.

Classes were also canceled on Monday at the University of Idaho, where four students were found dead in a home off campus. Little is known about their deaths, but police called it a homicide.

The American Public Health Association says gun violence in the US is a public health crisis. It is a leading cause of premature death in the country, responsible for more than 38,000 deaths annually. As of Nov. 14, at least 17,632 people have died from gun violence this year, and another 20,988 have died by suicide, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

“I am holding the victims, their families, and all members of the University of Virginia community in my heart today,” Ryan wrote. “And we will make plans to come together as a community to grieve as soon as the suspect is apprehended.”

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