University of Virginia police chief was told live while he was on the air that a student suspected of killing 3 others was in custody
- A suspect is in custody for the Sunday shooting at the University of Virginia.
- UVA Police Chief Tim Longo learned the suspect was in custody during a live-streamed update.
The University of Virginia shooting suspect accused of killing three people on Sunday night is now in custody — and UVA Police Chief Tim Longo learned of the news during a live-streamed press conference on Monday morning.
"We just received information the suspect is in custody," Longo said at the press conference.
Longo was in the middle of giving an update when he received word from a captain at the police department that the suspect had been taken into custody.
Just before the press conference, UVA had lifted a shelter-in-place order for all of its students after a "thorough" search of the campus.
Longo said officials were confident that the shooting suspect was not on the campus when they lifted the shelter-in-place order. On Twitter, the UVA Police Department later said that there would be no more alert messages following the apprehension of the shooting suspect.
Police identified the victims of the shooting as Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D'Sean Perry. All of the victims were players on the school's football team, police said.
The suspect's name and photo match the profile of a former UVA football player on the university's athletics website who was part of the team in 2018.
Longo said in the press conference that the suspect was still a student at UVA, but was no longer on the football team.
Sean Lampkin, an assistant football coach at Newberry College, and Davis's cousin, said in a tweet that Davis was saddened by his death and asked for prayers for his family.
"God took one of his most kind, humble, loving soldiers off of the battlefield last night," Lampkin said in a tweet on Monday. "Please pray for my family as we are devastated by the passing of my cousin Lavel Davis Jr. Love and already miss you, kid."
Davis's father, Lavel Davis Sr., said "Lord please help me," in a Facebook post, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch.
University President Jim Ryan said in a statement that classes would be canceled on Monday. Ryan said in the statement that he was "holding the victims, their families, and all members of the University of Virginia community in my heart today."