Father Of Accused UVA Mass Shooter Breaks His Silence
The father of suspected University of Virginia mass shooter, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., is in disbelief that his son fatally shot three UVA football players and is trying to figure out what went wrong.
“I can’t believe it was him. I still can’t believe it now,” Christopher Darnell Jones Sr. told WWBT, adding that he’s still trying to process the accusations against his 22-year-old son.
On Monday (Nov. 14), Charlottesville police announced the arrest of Jones for the shooting near a campus parking garage on Sunday night (Nov. 13) that killed Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D'Sean Perry, and injured two others.
Jones Sr. said the last time he saw his son was about one month ago when Jones Jr. dropped by his house to do laundry.
“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,” Jones Sr. recalled their conversation.
He advised his son to “go to school, don’t pay it any mind,” adding that his son “was really paranoid” but wouldn’t reveal everything that was happening.
Jones is currently a student at UVA but no longer a member of the football team. His father said Jones Jr. played high school football at Petersburg High School. “He excelled at everything. He was everyone’s friend, everybody loved Chris, and he had a movie star smile he would flash,” he stated.
Jones Jr. was on the run from police for more than 12 hours after the shooting. WWBT reported that armed U.S. Marshalls went to his mother’s house to search for him. His mother said he seemed normal when they spoke on Sunday but was later unable to reach him by phone after the shooting.
According to NBC News, Jones was taken into custody by Henrico County police in Richmond “without incident” just before 11 a.m. on Monday. Authorities charged him with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the alleged commission of a felon.
Jones Sr. said he wants to visit his son in jail and have a talk.
“What happened? Why did it have to get this far? He could’ve called me,” the father said. “I don’t know why he didn’t call me Saturday. If he had called me Saturday, I think maybe I could have talked him out of some things, maybe, hopefully.
Jones Sr. is also thinking about the victims of his son’s alleged attack.
“I don’t know what to say except I’m sorry on his behalf, and I apologize. He’s not a bad kid. He really isn’t,” he said. “I just don’t know what happened. I wasn’t there. I don’t know what happened to cause all of this.”
