A fatal shooting in a University of Virginia (UVA) parking lot killed three people, injured two others and sent police on a manhunt Monday looking for a student suspected in the attack, authorities said.
Classes at the university were canceled Monday a day after the shooting and the Charlottesville campus appeared deserted as authorities searched for the suspect, whom University of Virginia President Jim Ryan identified as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr.
In a letter to the university posted on social media, Ryan said the shooting happened around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
The university’s emergency management issued an alert Sunday night notifying the campus community of an “active assailant’s firearm.” The message warned students to shelter in place following a report of gunshots on Culbreth Road on the northern outskirts of campus.
Access to the scene of the shooting was blocked by police vehicles on Monday morning. The city and campus were much quieter than usual, with only a bit of traffic and dog walkers.
The UVA Police Department posted an advisory online saying multiple law enforcement agencies, including state police, were searching for a suspect who was considered “armed and dangerous.”
In his letter to campus, the university president said Jones was suspected of the shooting and was a student, still on the run as of Monday morning.
“This is a message any leader hopes they never 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.”
The university’s emergency management Twitter account said shortly before 7 a.m. Monday that “a full search of the UVA grounds and surrounding areas” was underway by law enforcement and urged people to on campus to remain protected.
Eva Surovell, 21, editor-in-chief of the student newspaper The Cavalier Daily, said that after students received an alert about an active shooter Sunday night, he ran to the parking lot, but saw that it was blocked off by police. When he went to a nearby intersection, he was told to shelter in place.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
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