Connect with us

Published

3 years ago

on

5:08 PM ET

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — When alleged University of Virginia gunman Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was pulled over by police in Chesterfield, Virginia, on Feb. 26, 2021, officers discovered he had a stolen handgun under his shirt in his waistband, according to an incident report obtained by ESPN on Thursday.

When an officer asked Jones whether the gun was his, he admitted it was and said he had purchased it for $500 “from a guy at the [7-Eleven].” When the officer asked Jones whether he knew the gun was stolen, he replied, “No, but I thought it was sketchy to buy it,” according to the report.

Jones told the officer that “he wanted to have protection for his family because he lost two of his brothers.” The report said officers seized marijuana from the Mazda6 that Jones was driving, along with a Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun and 15 9 mm cartridges.

On June 10, 2021, Jones was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of having a concealed weapon in Chesterfield General Court. A judge fined him $100 and gave him a 12-month suspended sentence. The judge also issued a three-year good behavior bond in that case, according to court records obtained by ESPN, and the judge ordered Jones to forfeit the firearm.

At the time of that arrest, Jones also had outstanding warrants on misdemeanor hit-and-run property damage and reckless driving charges in Petersburg, Virginia. He was convicted of those charges on Oct. 28, 2021, and that judge also issued a 12-month suspended sentence on each of those charges.

Jones, 22, is accused of shooting and killing junior receivers Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler and junior defensive end/linebacker D’Sean Perry on a charter bus Sunday night. Running back Mike Hollins is hospitalized after being shot in the back. A fifth person on the bus, Virginia student Marlee Morgan, was also shot and is in good condition.

Prosecutors charged Jones with three felony charges of second-degree murder and firearm use in the commission of a felony, as well as two counts of malicious wounding and additional gun-related charges related to shooting Hollins and Morgan. He is being held without bail in a Charlottesville jail.

Virginia officials said they became aware of Jones’ conviction on the misdemeanor concealed weapon charge while conducting their own investigation into a hazing incident. On Sept. 15, a student alleged that Jones made a comment to him about having a gun.

“The reporting party did not see Mr. Jones in possession of a gun,” a Virginia spokesperson said in a statement. “The comment about owning a gun was not made in conjunction with a threat. In the course of their investigation, University officials spoke with Mr. Jones’ roommate, [who] gave no indication of the presence of any weapons.”

After school officials became aware that Jones had previously been tried and convicted of the misdemeanor weapons charge, they attempted to contact him about the allegations of having a gun and the earlier incident. “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,” according to the spokesperson’s statement.

On Wednesday night, University of Virginia president Jim Ryan said the school will have an external review of its interactions with Jones.

“The criminal investigation is underway, and we are also inviting an external review with respect to the university’s interactions with the suspect and whether we did all we could to prevent or avoid this tragedy,” Ryan said. “This will likely take a while, but we will share and act upon what we ultimately learn. It’s possible and perhaps likely that we will never find one single thing that will explain this. It may also be that we never thoroughly understand why this happened, but what we learn, we will share.”

Jones was a member of the football team for one semester during the 2018 season, a walk-on, according to athletic director Carla Williams.

ESPN reporter Paula Lavigne contributed to this report.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Sports

Springer’s 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

Published

6 hours ago

on

July 2, 2025

By

Springer's 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

  • ESPN News Services

Jul 1, 2025, 07:23 PM ET

George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.

The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.

Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.

Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.

Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.

New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Astros’ Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

Published

6 hours ago

on

July 2, 2025

By

Astros' Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

  • Associated Press

Jul 1, 2025, 08:23 PM ET

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.

He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.

“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”

Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.

The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.

“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”

Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.

Continue Reading

Sports

Ohtani’s 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Published

6 hours ago

on

July 2, 2025

By

Ohtani's 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

  • ESPN News Services

Jul 2, 2025, 01:38 AM ET

Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.

Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).

As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).

During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.

Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.

Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.

Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

White Sox rookie Shane Smith (3-6) got two quick outs in the first before walking Will Smith and Max Muncy back-to-back. Teoscar Hernández followed with an RBI single, Andy Pages hit a run-scoring double and Michael Conforto had a two-run single.

Chicago’s lone run came on Lenyn Sosa‘s RBI single in the third.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Trending