Tragedy at UVA

This past Sunday afternoon, three students were killed and two were injured at the University of Virginia. With much uncertainty, and a definite gunman yet to be determined, the 15th act of gun violence on a college campus so far this year一never mind the 53 other ones on elementary and secondary school grounds一is merely another pitiful reminder of the state of gun laws in our country.

While the two injured students, (one who is in critical condition and the other in good condition) have been unnamed by UVA President Jim Ryan, the three that were fatally shot have been identified as athletes. The three football players, including Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry, were reportedly returning to the main campus in Charlottesville after a class trip to Washington D.C. The hours following were a grueling hot pursuit for the killer by policeman, with UVA students and faculty on lockdown order. 

The man believed to be behind such crime is Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a student of UVA and former football player. He was arrested without incident at around 11:00 a.m just eastward of Charlottesville, where police pulled him over. While no motive for the attacks have been concluded, he is being charged with three counts of second degree murder and three count of using a handgun in commission of a felony. 

This is not the first time a shooting has occurred at a Virginia university. In fact, the deadliest school shooting in U.S history took place two hours westward and about fifteen years prior to the story we are hearing about today.