On November 13, former football walk-on and student at the University of Virginia, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., allegedly opened fire on a charter bus filled with students, killing three and wounding two others. Jones and the other students had just returned from a class-related field trip to Washington D.C. when the attack occurred.

UVA students Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry died, and Marlee Morgan and Michael Hollins were injured. According to The Washington Post, students recalled that Jones seemed withdrawn, barely talking or interacting with them throughout the trip.

After news of the shooting emerged, a shelter-in-place alert was activated across UVA, and more than 500 people sought shelter in campus buildings. Authorities posted pictures of Jones across campus and warned students not to confront him.

Meghana Annamaneni ’21, a first-year student at UVA, recalled her experience during the lockdown. “I didn’t realize the gravity of this situation until the third alert, which told us to ‘RUN, HIDE, FIGHT’,” Annamaneni said. “My friends and I immediately started texting each other to see if we were safe, and many students started listening to the police scanner to try to understand what was going on. I think the scariest part was that there was a lot of misinformation being spread among the students. No one felt like they could sleep until the shooter was detained,” she said.

After a 12-hour search and lockdown, Jones was found and brought into custody 80 miles from campus on Monday, November 14. He faces three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony and is being held without bail.

The University canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday to allow students to reflect and mourn. A community assistance center was set up on campus to provide mental health services. Students held an informal vigil on November 14 and a more formal memorial the following Saturday to honor the three victims. “While all of this does not take away from how devastating the incident was, it is a reflection of how UVA is coming together for each other and trying to stay strong,” said Annamaneni. James E. Ryan, president of the university, invited students to his house and issued a statement saying, “I am holding the victims, their families, and all members of the University of Virginia community in my heart today.”

According to The Hill, the shooting on the UVA campus is one of over 600 mass shootings in the US this year. “I, along with every single member of the Hotchkiss student body, am disturbed but not surprised by the rise in school shootings and general gun violence in this country,” said Hotchkiss Democrats Head Chris Mitchell ’24. “Our generation has become numb to tragedies like these. They happen so often and elicit the same response from politicians, world leaders, and school officials - ‘We stand with you all in this tough time, and offer our thoughts and prayers.’ In my opinion, thoughts and prayers just don’t cut it when children fear for their lives while at school. We need actual change.”

During Stu-Fac on Monday, November 14, students and faculty briefly discussed the recent shootings. Mitchell recalled a student who raised concerns about how Hotchkiss would respond to a school shooter. “I realized that if something like this was to happen on the Hotchkiss campus, I wouldn’t know where to go or what to do. We live in a world where a situation like this isn’t that far-fetched,” said Mitchell ’24.