The school president reported that three members of the University of Virginia football team were shot and murdered on campus.
The shooting, which happened on a bus carrying students returning from a field trip on Sunday night, also injured two other people. According to university president Jim Ryan, the suspect is currently in custody.
A previous shelter in place directive for the university has been revoked.
The institution released a statement saying that “one of our students, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., is suspected of having committed the shooting.”
The suspect, a 22-year-old black guy, is accused of three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of handgun use, according to the police.
The shooting reportedly took place at around 22:30 local time (03:30 GMT) Sunday at a garage on Culbreth Road, on the university’s Charlottesville campus.
“It resulted in three fatalities; two additional victims were injured and are receiving medical care,” Mr Ryan said in a letter to the university community posted on social media.
The victims were identified as Devin Chandler, a second-year student from Virginia Beach, D’Sean Perry, a fourth-year student from Miami, Florida, and Lavel Davis, a third-year student from Rich Hill, South Carolina.
Police said the bodies of the victims were found inside of a charter bus after they returned from a field trip. They were attacked as the bus pulled into a parking garage on the university campus.
The suspect was said to be at-large soon after the shooting, and was described by the police as wearing a burgundy jacket, blue jeans, red shoes and possibly driving a black sport-utility vehicle.
A shelter in place order was enforced overnight as police searched for the suspect.
On Monday afternoon, police said the suspect has been caught and is in custody. The motive is unclear, they said, but police continue to investigate the shooting.
“I am devastated that this violence has visited the University of Virginia,” said Mr Ryan, the university’s president.
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