A student gunman was at large after he fatally shot three people and wounded two others at a garage on the University of Virginia campus late Sunday night, the authorities said. University officials urged people on the campus in Charlottesville to shelter in place.
It was not immediately clear if the victims were students.
The university’s office of emergency management said it received reports of shots fired at a garage on Culbreth Road around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday. The University of Virginia Police Department identified the gunman as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who the university president said in an email to the campus was a student at the school.
The university police warned that Mr. Jones was “armed and dangerous.” They said several law enforcement agencies were helping with the search for Mr. Jones, and that the Virginia State police had deployed helicopters as part of the effort.
In the email to the campus sent early Monday, the university president, Jim Ryan, said that classes would be canceled on Monday.
“I am heartbroken to report that the shooting has resulted in three fatalities; two additional victims were injured and are receiving medical care,” Mr. Ryan wrote. “We are working closely with the families of the victims, and we will share additional detail as soon as we are able.”
“This is a message any leader hopes never to have to send,” he added, “and I am devastated that this violence has visited the University of Virginia.”
Mr. Jones was described by the police as wearing a burgundy jacket, bluejeans, red shoes and possibly driving a black sport-utility vehicle. They urged family and friends of those on campus to call an emergency hotline for more information about the episode.
Around 1:18 a.m., Robyn S. Hadley, the university’s dean of students, sent an email to the student body urging those on campus to “Please, please take the shelter in place commands seriously as the situation remains active.”
The university’s athletics website listed Mr. Jones as a one-time member of its football team; the website listed him as a freshman member of the team who did not appear in any games in 2018.
A spokesman for the university provided the email sent by the university president, but did not immediately respond to additional questions from The New York Times.
Matt Stevens
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