Virginia

University of Virginia shooting suspect purchased 2 guns legally after his prohibition of buying firearms was removed | CNN

Published

2 years ago

November 17, 2022

University of Virginia shooting suspect purchased 2 guns legally after his prohibition of buying firearms was removed | CNN

CNN
—

The suspected gunman in Sunday’s capturing on the College of Virginia – killing three college students and wounding two others – legally bought firearms on two separate events after being prevented from doing so years earlier, in keeping with the gun store that made the gross sales.

Suspect Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, tried to purchase a firearm in 2018 and 2021, however neither of the gross sales or transfers had been accomplished, Dance’s Sporting Items proprietor Marlon Dance informed CNN.

Jones was underneath the authorized buying age of 21 to purchase a handgun in 2018 and failed a background verify attempting to purchase a rifle in 2021 as a consequence of a pending prison cost. “Jones DID NOT obtain both of the firearms he tried to buy, and each tried purchases had been forwarded to the Virginia State Police for additional motion,” Dance mentioned in a press release.

The suspect was capable of buy a rifle in February and a 9mm pistol in July, in keeping with the assertion, and there was “nothing noteworthy” in regards to the 2022 purchases.

The circumstances behind the capturing that has shattered the Charlottesville group and brought the lives of three Virginia Cavaliers soccer gamers stays underneath police investigation.

Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry had been on a discipline journey with Jones – a one-time UVA soccer participant in 2018 – and different college students to see a play in Washington, DC, in keeping with a college spokesperson.

When the bus returned to UVA’s essential campus in Charlottesville Sunday night time, Jones allegedly opened hearth, killing the three and wounding two others, recognized by authorities as Michael Hollins and Marlee Morgan.

Hollins, a working again for the Cavaliers, has undergone two profitable surgical procedures, his household mentioned in a press release Wednesday.

With out specifying which particular person, UVA Well being spokesperson Eric Swensen mentioned Wednesday that one individual wounded is in truthful situation whereas one other had been launched from medical care. CNN has reached out to Morgan’s household for remark.

It’s unclear whether or not both of the weapons bought by Jones this yr had been utilized in Sunday’s capturing, however police confirmed {that a} prior maintain on his means to purchase firearms as a consequence of an ongoing authorized matter in 2021 was dropped.

A pending cost Jones confronted “was diminished to a misdemeanor by the court docket in October 2021, thereby eradicating the prohibition towards future purchases,” Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller mentioned in a press release.

Jones was additionally the topic of a gun-related probe by the college’s judicial council previous to the capturing, wherein a pupil reported Jones “made a remark to him about possessing a gun,” in keeping with college spokesperson Brian Coy. Jones “repeatedly refused to cooperate with College officers” and his case was escalated for additional overview and attainable disciplinary motion, Coy mentioned.

In Sunday’s capturing, Jones faces three fees of second-degree homicide and three counts of utilizing a handgun within the fee of a felony, UVA Police Chief Timothy Longo Sr. mentioned. He additionally faces two counts of malicious wounding, every accompanied by a firearm cost.

Jones’ first court docket look Wednesday resulted in him being held with out bond, the court docket ordered. He stays in custody in Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, on-line data present, and his subsequent court docket listening to will probably be in December, in keeping with Albemarle County Commonwealth’s lawyer Jim Hingeley.

Scholar Ryan Lynch informed CNN affiliate KYW-TV she was on the bus the place the capturing passed off and noticed Jones push one of many victims.

“Chris obtained up and pushed Lavel,” Lynch mentioned. “After he pushed him, he was like ‘You guys are at all times messing with me.’ Stated one thing bizarre like that, but it surely was very weird as a result of they didn’t discuss to him the entire journey.”

Lynch then heard gunfire, she informed KYW.

“They simply saved coming, an increasing number of gunshots,” she mentioned. “We thought he was going to shoot everybody on the bus.”

However “the shooter simply type of walked or, like, skipped off the bus,” Lynch mentioned.

In line with Hingeley at Wednesday’s court docket look, a witness to the capturing mentioned Devin Chandler, one of many three killed, was shot whereas sleeping.

After a campus lockdown and manhunt for the suspected shooter, Jones was noticed driving a automobile and apprehended by police Monday about 80 miles east of Charlottesville in Henrico County.

College students, college and the group at giant gathered Monday night time at a candlelight vigil on campus on commemorate the lives of Perry, Davis and Chandler.

“We’re all lucky to have them be part of our lives,” Cavaliers head coach Tony Elliott mentioned of the three. “They touched us, impressed us and labored extremely laborious as representatives of our program, college and group.”

Left to right: Devin Chandler, D'Sean Perry and Lavel Davis Jr.

Davis was described as a mild large whose smile would gentle up the room, Elliott mentioned at a information convention Tuesday. It resonated “how a lot he beloved his teammates and would do something for his teammates,” Elliott added.

Perry was “a pleasant, respectful, hardworking one who was among the best general younger males our group’s needed to provide,” mentioned his highschool soccer coach, Earl Sims, Jr., who described Perry on Wednesday as “like a son.”

Perry’s household in a press release mentioned he “made his household proud” via his religion and good deeds.

“Soccer and artwork was his ardour, however the love that he had for his household, associates and his group was confirmed time and time once more via his candid dedication. We actually recognize the outpouring of affection and help from so many individuals. We proceed to maintain the households of the opposite victims of this mindless tragedy in our prayers,” they mentioned.

Adam Sykes, Chandler’s former highschool coach, mentioned Chandler “simply wished to make these round him as completely satisfied as he was” and infrequently put others first.

“Even throughout his junior yr when his dad handed away in the course of the season, he got here to me and mentioned, ‘Coach, I wish to play this week. My dad would need me to play this week.’ That was his character: at all times considering of others,” Sykes mentioned.

The Cavaliers’ upcoming recreation Saturday towards Coastal Carolina has been canceled. A memorial service at John Paul Jones Enviornment in Charlottesville will probably be held Saturday afternoon.

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Virginia

Virginia House votes to repeal restrictions on military tuition program

Published

3 hours ago

June 28, 2024

Press Room

Virginia House votes to repeal restrictions on military tuition program

RICHMOND — Virginia’s House of Delegates voted unanimously Friday to repeal restrictions recently imposed on a college tuition program for military families, but Senate leaders do not intend to take the bill up when that chamber meets Monday, saying they want to limit any repeal to one year.

The House, Senate and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) all agreed to a state budget in May that included language to rein in the fast-growing program, which waives tuition and fees at public colleges and universities for the spouses and children of veterans who were disabled or killed in the line of duty.

Created in 1930 to aid the families of World War I veterans, the program has expanded over the years to include out-of-state residents, graduate students and relatives of service members with non-combat-related injuries. The price tag has risen exponentially in recent years, from $12 million in 2019 to more than $65 million last year. Universities have borne the cost or passed it to other students.

Amid warnings that the program was unsustainable, legislators and Youngkin agreed to new restrictions, which require participants to tap federal aid, such as Pell Grants, before accessing the state program, and limit eligibility to Virginia residents pursuing undergraduate degrees.

They also require military families to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which uses a formula to calculate how much families can afford to pay for higher education. The wealthiest participants would pay a portion of the “expected family contribution,” expected to be capped at about $3,750 a year.

Current participants were grandfathered in, as was anyone who applied to college before May 15 under the budget language, which also provides $20 million to colleges and universities to offset waiver costs.

Those changes drew swift and vocal pushback from military families, leading Youngkin and the Democrats who lead the House and Senate to promise fixes. But they have not been on the same page about just what to do.

Youngkin and the House have favored fully repealing the restrictions until the issue can be studied, while Senate leaders have leaned toward more limited tinkering.

The House gathered for about an hour Friday to pass a bill to repeal the changes and provide $20 million a year for the next two fiscal years to cover some of the cost.

“It’s often been said if you find yourself in a hole you don’t want to be in, stop digging. Mr. Speaker, today I’m glad that we stopped digging,” Del. Mike A. Cherry (R-Colonial Heights) said on the floor ahead of the vote, praising Democratic and Republican leaders who’d pledged to “not weaponize” the issue.

But Senate Majority Leader Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) said that the measure will not move forward in the Senate, which on Monday will meet for a second time to try to advance its own fix.

“It will not be considered,” he said.

Senate leaders are backing a new bill to postpone the restrictions until July 1, 2025, provide $65 million over the next 12 months to cover the cost, and require the state’s Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission to review the program and make recommendations by Sept. 1.

“We’re willing to repeal the new restrictions for one year … and use the surplus to take the burden off other students who are currently funding the program,” Surovell said.

House Speaker Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) said he was confident the two sides will eventually work out their differences.

“Regardless of what happens on Monday, we’re very, very close in concept,” Scott said. “I think everybody recognizes that the way the program is designed now, it can’t go on like that. But we want to make sure that we get it right.”

Scott said he would support means-testing and other restrictions once the issue has been fully studied.

“I’m a disabled veteran as well. I can afford to pay for my daughter’s tuition,” he said. “So I think we need to do some means-testing. We need to get some residency requirements. I think we need to take a look at it and see what’s doable.”

The Senate initially met June 18, when Democratic leaders hoped to pass a bill to lift the Pell Grant and FAFSA requirements for relatives of veterans killed in the line of duty or disabled in combat, but not those with non-combat disabilities. They met for more than five hours that day but did not advance the legislation.

Youngkin praised the House’s action Friday and leaned on the Senate to fall in line with that plan.

“Our veterans, first responders, and their families have spoken, and we have heard them,” he said in a written statement. “Now it is time for the Senate to pass the bill on Monday, so I can sign it immediately. … If the Senate Democrat Leadership does not support a repeal of the language, they are holding our veterans, first responders, and their families, hostage.”

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Virginia

Data centers transformed Northern Virginia’s economy, but residents are wary of more expansion

Published

10 hours ago

June 28, 2024

Press Room

Data centers transformed Northern Virginia’s economy, but residents are wary of more expansion

Julie and Chris Borneman signed petitions, wrote to their local officials, put a sign in front of their house, and joined a campaign against putting the power line through their property.

The recent expansion of data centers and associated power infrastructure is unprecedented, according to Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at the Piedmont Environmental Council, a local environmental nonprofit. She has worked at the nonprofit for 15 years.

“Prior to 2021 I had only worked on two or three transmission line proposals … Within the last three years, I’ve been a participant in stakeholder meetings for at least a dozen transmission line proposals,” Bolthouse said. “We’ve never seen this many transmission lines at once.”

The Piedmont Environmental Council has been keeping track of all these data centers and associated power infrastructure.

Bolthouse said the power company and state regulator have been approving many of these projects, but there is not enough public information about how much energy the data centers use, and their impact on air and water quality.

“We need transparency so that we can proactively plan ahead,” said Bolthouse. “Right now, what we’re doing is basically like our utility is handing out blank checks that we, the rate payers, are on the hook for paying for.”

To that, Aaron Ruby, spokesperson for Dominion Energy, the largest utility in Virginia, said, “as a public utility we are the most heavily regulated industry in Virginia.”

He said the state regulator reviews the energy costs to make sure everyone is paying their fair share, and the share of energy costs that households pay for has gone down, whereas the share for data centers has gone up.

He also added that Dominion Energy expects the power demand from data centers to nearly quadruple over the next 15 years.

The demand for power has never gone up by so much, so quickly.

Some of the electricity will come from natural gas plants, but Ruby said most of that will be from renewable energy like wind and solar power.

In a statement, Amazon pointed out that their company has been the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy for four years, and that 90 percent of the energy the company uses comes from renewable sources.

Local officials say data centers saved their economy during the Great Recession of 2007. Buddy Rizer helped bring data centers to Loudoun County in northern Virginia, as the executive director for economic development for the county for the past 17 years.

He said they brought in data centers because during 2007, the local economy took a big hit when the housing bubble burst. The county lost a third of its tax revenue.

“Data centers have such an inordinate return on investment for a community that there’s nothing else that comes close,” Rizer said. “As an example: for every dollar a data center uses in services in our community. We get $26 back. There’s nothing that comes within $24 of that.”

He said the revenue from data centers helped transform their local economy, so they could invest in their schools and roads. He added that the tax revenue from data centers is almost a third of the county’s budget, and completely funds their operating budget.

But Rizer has also heard the concerns about how quickly the industry is growing in their area.

“When you’re in any job 17 years, in your community, you become your job … especially a fairly public facing job like mine,” Rizer said. “I have a lot of conversations at the grocery store or when I’m filling my car with gas.”

He expects the demand for data centers to continue to grow.

Rizer said cloud computing led to a big wave of data centers, then it was the demand for online services during COVID-19. Now, the big driver of growth is artificial intelligence.

He said data centers actually do not have a lot more room to grow in Loudoun County anymore. The more recent proposals for new data centers have been in the surrounding counties, Maryland, states like Kansas and Mississippi, or other countries, like China, India, Japan, and Malaysia.

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Virginia

Online predator may have abused additional victims in Virginia

Published

17 hours ago

June 28, 2024

Press Room

Online predator may have abused additional victims in Virginia

Police in northern Virginia are warning parents about predators on popular social media platforms. This comes after a Fairfax County man was arrested for attempting to meet up with a child. FOX 5’s Nana-Sentuo Bonsu is in McLean with the latest.

Posted June 27, 2024 11:23pm EDT

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