Seven college students killed in separate homicides in Virginia, Idaho

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• Judy Woodruff:

  Two universities are grieving the tragic loss of students tonight.

  In Moscow, Idaho, four University of Idaho students were found dead in a home near campus Sunday. And, in Charlottesville, Virginia, three University of Virginia students were shot and killed last night.

  John Yang has our report.

  TIM LONGO, University of Virginia Police Chief: Pardon me.

• John Yang:

  University of Virginia Police Chief Tim Longo was in the middle of briefing reporters this morning when he got the word he'd been hoping for.

• Tim Longo:

  We have just received information that the suspect is in custody.

• John Yang:

  An emotional moment for Longo and for students like junior Emmy Smith, who had sheltered in place overnight.

• Emmy Smith, College Student:

  It's partially a relief that this is over. But it's just, how do we move forward in a time like this?

• John Yang:

  Move forward from about 10:30 Sunday night, when a shooting left three students dead and two others wounded after a bus trip to Washington, D.C., to see a play as part of a class.

• 911 Dispatcher:

  I have two people shot.

• John Yang:

  Officials said the dead were members of the football team, starting wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr. from Ridgeville, South Carolina, in his third year, sophomore Devin Chandler, also a wide receiver, from Huntersville, North Carolina, and linebacker D'Sean Perry, a senior from Miami.

  A former football player, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder and use of a handgun. Longo said Jones had come to school officials' attention in September after reports he had said he had a gun.

• Tim Longo:

  The comment about Mr. Jones owning a gun was not made in conjunction with any threats.

• John Yang:

  In a 2018 interview with The Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jones spoke of multiple suspensions from school for fighting while growing up in a Richmond housing project, a much different environment from UVA's picturesque campus designed by Thomas Jefferson.

  For Emmy Smith, the shooting was a shocking event.

• Emmy Smith:

  I was just in my room with my friend watching movies on a Sunday night, and I faintly heard gunshots go off. We were instantly bolting the doors, closing all the windows, lights off, moved to the floor, away from any and all windows.

• John Yang:

  Overnight, students were urged to shelter in place during an intense manhunt. Some slept in libraries.

  Across the country, at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, another shelter in place order Sunday after four students were found shot to death in a home near campus. Officials are releasing little information in that case. But both events are a grim reminder of the nation's epidemic of gun violence.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.