3 dead, 2 injured in University of Virginia shooting
According to a tweet from the police, three people were killed and two more were injured in a shooting on the University of Virginia campus.
Christopher Darnell Jones, a student, was named as the suspect by the university police, who also said that several agencies were actively searching for him.
“As of this writing, I am heartbroken to report that the shooting has resulted in three fatalities; two additional victims were injured and are receiving medical care,” university president James E Ryan wrote in a message to the community early on Monday morning.
“We are working closely with the families of the victims, and we will share additional detail as soon as we are able. Our University Police Department has joined forces with other law enforcement agencies to apprehend the suspect, and we will keep our community apprised of developments as the situation evolves”, he further added.
https://twitter.com/presjimryan/status/1592089243358486529?s=20&t=PBpTKgDE_5VuGGiWQEXn2g
Monday’s classes were cancelled, and Mr Ryan added that both students and faculty would have access to counselling and psychological support.
People are “genuinely scared,” according to Eva Surovell, editor-in-chief of the student publication Cavalier Daily, who spoke to The Washington Post.
“The second we all got that message that there was an active shooter, my phone flooded with messages,” she said. “You just don’t think something could happen like this to your community until it does.”
This is not the first shooting incident that has occurred on a university campus in Virginia.
Following reports of a suspicious man near a school building, two campus police officers at Bridgewater College were fatally shot in February of this year.
3 dead, 2 injured in University of Virginia shooting
When a college student opened fire on 32 people at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, it was one of the worst mass shootings in American history.
The massacre on Sunday is the most recent in a string of shootings that have occurred on US college and high school campuses in recent years. The massacre has sparked a discussion about stronger controls on gun access in the country.
