Virginia Dem AG candidate Jay Jones said in 2020 that if ‘a few’ officers died, police would stop ‘killing people’: Del. Carrie Coyner

Jay Jones, the Democrat candidate for Virginia Attorney General who has come under fire for resurfaced text messages in which he joked in text messages about murdering former VA House Speaker Todd Gilbert and hoped that his children died, has been revealed to have said in 2020 that if a few police officers died, then they would stop killing people. 

Speaking with the Virginia Scope, GOP House Delegate Carrie Coyner recounted the text messages she received in 2022 from Jones. In the chain, Jones texted Coyner at one point, "Yes, I’ve told you this before. Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy."

Coyner was asked about the message and what Jones was referring to when he said "I’ve told you this before." Coyner said that it went back to a phone call the two of them had in 2020 about removing qualified immunity protections for law enforcement. 

She told the outlet, "We had a pretty heated conversation about public policy and pain involving qualified immunity. I served on the Courts Committee for a short period of time. A bill to remove qualified immunity for police officers, which protects police officers from personal liability in their line of duty and their line of work, and he believed that they should not have qualified immunity, and he was trying to convince me to agree with that, and I said, ‘No, police officers have to make a split-second decision about whether or not to shoot a gun to protect themselves or protect others. And if they’re having to think about, will this strip my whole family of everything … are they going to be able to make that split-second decision?’"

"And I said, ‘I believe that people will get killed. Police officers will get killed.’ And he said, ‘Well, maybe if a few of them died, that they would move on, not shooting people, not killing people.’ And I said, ‘that’s insane.’ But he firmly believed that if you removed qualified immunity, that police officers would act differently, and I firmly believe that it would not result in good public policy, and it would put police officers and the public’s lives at risk if they have to second-guess themselves on a decision they’re making in a moment where someone is doing something violent."

In a statement to the Virginia Scope, Jones said, "I did not say this. I have never believed and do not believe that any harm should come to law enforcement, period. Every single day, police officers put their lives on the line to protect our communities, and I am deeply grateful for their service and sacrifice. As Attorney General, I will work hand-in-hand with law enforcement to support their work."

In the 2022 text messages, Jones wrote, "Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, hitler and pol pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head. Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time." Coyner replied at the time, "Jay Please stop."