UVA linebacker D’ Sean Perry among 3 killed Sunday night

D’ Sean Perry, a linebacker and defensive end for the University of Virginia football team, is one of three people shot dead at Culbreth Garage on UVa Central Grounds at the University of Virginia Sunday night, Perry’s father Sean Perry confirmed Monday morning.

D’ Sean Perry, who was 6’3″ tall and weighed 230 pounds, made two tackles in Saturday’s University of Virginia’s game against Pittsburgh. Today, his parents are flying in from his hometown of Miami.

UVa President Jim Ryan said in an email to the community early Monday morning that three students had been killed in the Sunday night shooting. The names of the two other victims who were killed are not available at this time, nor are the names of the two victims who lived.

The shooter is still at large, and several law enforcement agencies are looking for him. He is considered armed and dangerous.

Classes are cancelled today, Ryan said in his letter.

“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. “This is a traumatic incident for everyone in our community and we have cancelled classes for today (Monday, Nov. 14.)”

– Sydney Shuler, The Daily Progress

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting late Sunday at the University of Virginia, according to the school’s president. Police are searching for a suspect, who remains at large.

The shooting at around 10:30 p.m. Sunday “resulted in three fatalities; two additional victims were injured and are receiving medical care,” President Jim Ryan said in a letter to the university community posted on social media.

The university’s emergency management issued an alert on Sunday night notifying the campus community of an “active attacker firearm.” The message warned students to shelter in place following a report of shots fired on Culbreth Road on the campus.

The UVA Police Department posted a notice online saying multiple police agencies including the state police were searching for a suspect who was considered “armed and dangerous.”

Ryan’s letter confirmed the suspect was still at large.

“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. “This is a traumatic incident for everyone in our community and we have cancelled classes for today (Monday, Nov. 14.)”

A shooting occurred late Sunday night on the campus of the University of Virginia. UVa policed identified a suspect, Christopher Darnell Jones.

Jones reportedly grew up in Richmond and played football at two area high schools.

At 10:42 p.m., the university’s emergency management Twitter account reported “ACTIVE ATTACKER firearm reported in area of Culbreth Road. RUN HIDE FIGHT.”

As of 3 a.m. authorities had not released word about any potential injuries or fatalities. Multiple police agencies, including a Virginia State Police helicopter, were searching for the suspect.

Culbreth Road is on the north end of campus near the school’s theater. 

Around 10:15 p.m., UVa sophomore Em Gunter, 19, was watching a lecture in her dormitory when she heard six gunshots ring out. Gunter lives in the International Residential College, and she can see Culbreth Road from her window. 

She sent a message to the 350 other residents in her building and told them to stay inside. She continued to hunker down in her room with friends, who felt terrified.

“I just have no words,” Gunter said. “This is insane.” 

For 10 years, Gunter lived in Southwest Virginia, where the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech remains in the forefront of people’s minds. 

“April 16 was a solemn day for us,” she said.

The emergency management department reported Jones as the suspect Sunday evening, describing him as a Black male, wearing a burgundy jacket, blue jeans and red shoes. Police said he might be driving a black sport utility vehicle with Virginia plates TWX-3580.

UVa police said he is considered armed and dangerous and advised residents to shelter in place and reach out to family and friends. 

According to the UVa athletic department website, Jones played football for the school in 2018 but didn’t appear in any games. 

He grew up in the Essex Village and Mosby Court housing complexes in Richmond, according to a 2018 Richmond Times-Dispatch story. He was smart and quiet, a relative said.

“When I come into the classrooms, everything flowed,” Jones said at the time.

According to the story, Jones’ father left the family when he was little, and Jones got in fights at school, leading to suspensions.

He played football at Varina and Petersburg High Schools and graduated from Petersburg in 2018.

Robyn S. Hadley, dean of students, emailed the UVa community early Monday morning. She told students she, too, was on campus and sheltering in place. 

“Please, please take the shelter in place commands seriously as the situation remains active,” she wrote. 

UVa asked friends and family with questions to call an emergency hotline at (877) 685-4836.

Since 2002, there have been at least 14 incidents of gunfire on Virginia college campuses, according to news reports and data compiled by the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. 

Everytown, which supports gun control, has tallied more than 200 shootings on or near colleges and 400 at K-12 schools in the United States since 2013.

Earlier this year, two Bridgewater College officers were fatally shot on campus. A man from Hanover County has been charged with their killings. In 2021, a VCU student, Cody Woodson, and a 17-year-old male were shot and killed on the same block adjacent to VCU’s campus on back-to-back days. 

– Eric Kolenich, Richmond Times-Dispatch