The father of the man suspected of opening fire at the University of Virginia is sharing details about his son’s last visit.
Chris Jones Sr. spoke with WTKR about his reaction when police told him his son, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., was suspected of committing the crime.
“My heart goes out to their families. I don’t know what to say, except I’m sorry, on his behalf, and I apologize,” Chris Jones Sr. said.
The outlet noted when Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was not on campus, he stayed at an apartment with his father as well as his grandmother.
According to Chris Jones Sr., it has been roughly a month since he saw his son.
When he came home to do laundry, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. talked to his father about what was going on at school.
“Yeah he was real paranoid, when I talked to him, about some things. He wouldn’t tell me everything,” Chris Jones Sr. said.
He added, “He said some people were picking on him or whatever, he didn’t know how to handle it. I just told him to just go to school, don’t pay them no mind, do what you got to do, you only got one more year.”
Opening up about his son’s early years, Chris Jones Sr. told the outlet, “Me and his mother separated when he was five. I was out of his life for 11 years.”
He went on to ask, “What happened? Why did it have to get this far? He could have called me.”
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. is currently facing three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony after fatally shooting three football players and wounding two others.
Hundreds gathered on the campus Monday to mourn the vicitms.
— Virginia Cavaliers (@VirginiaSports) November 15, 2022
CNN noted the suspect was part of a pending case with the judicial council at the university in the midst of the shooting.
“On September 15, in the context of reviewing a potential hazing issue, UVA Student Affairs heard from a student that Mr. Jones made a comment to him about possessing a gun,” UVA spokesperson Brian Coy said.
The individual “did not see Mr. Jones in possession of a gun,” and the “comment about owning a gun was not made in conjunction with a threat,” according to Coy.
He explained, “In the course of their investigation, University officials spoke with Mr. Jones’ roommate, who gave no indication of the presence of any weapons. In the course of their investigation, University officials discovered that Mr. Jones previously had been tried and convicted of a misdemeanor concealed weapons violation in 2021, for which he received a 12-month suspended sentence and a small fine.”
Coy said, throughout the investigation, “Mr. Jones repeatedly refused to cooperate with University officials who were seeking additional information about the claims that he had a firearm and about his failure to disclose the previous misdemeanor conviction.”
As a result, in October, “The Threat Assessment Team escalated his case for disciplinary action.”
