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Timeline: Jasper Howard Stabbing
Click here for stories, pictures and video on the stabbing death of UConn cornerback Jasper Howard
Oct. 18: Jasper Howard was stabbed just after 12:30 a.m., hours after UConn's win over Louisville, during an altercation near the Student Union after a party in the building.
-Howard was airlifted by Life Star from Windham Community Memorial Hospital to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, where he died.
-UConn football coach Randy Edsall received a call about the incident at 1 a.m. and identified Howard's body at 4 a.m. at St. Francis.
Oct. 20: Police questioned — but have not arrested — a Bloomfield man about his possible role in the stabbing death, according to a Hartford attorney.
-UConn police ask the public to share any photos or videos taking during the dance near the stabbing scene.
Oct. 23: UConn police said witnesses to Howard's killing were threatened on Internet postings with violence if they come forward with evidence.
Oct. 24: The state police dive team searched Swan Lake near the entrance to the UConn campus for about eight hours, apparently in an attempt to find evidence.
-The Huskies play their first game since Howard's death, a 28-24 loss to West Virginia in Morgantown.
Oct. 25: The team travels to Miami for Jasper Howard's funeral.
Oct. 26: Jasper Howard's funeral.
Oct. 27: State and University of Connecticut police arrest John W. Lomax, of Bloomfield; Hakim Muhammad, of Bloomfield and Jamal Todd, of Hartford in the stabbing of Jasper Howard. Lomax is charged with murder.
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The fight that led to the death of University of Connecticut football player Jasper Howard was started by two teammates who got into an argument with four young men who drove to the hip-hop dance from Bloomfield, sources told The Courant.
Arrest warrants in the case have been sealed and prosecutors and police have released little information about what happened inside and outside the UConn Student Union in the early morning of Oct. 18. But law enforcementsources, court documents and witness interviews outline a confluence of events that led to Howard's violent and sudden death and the arrest of John W. Lomax III, 21, on a murder charge.
>> Brian Parker and A.J. Portee, two redshirt freshmen on UConn's football team, were "the aggressors" in the fight with the three Bloomfield men, Lomax, Johnny Hood, 21, and Hakim Muhammad, 20, the sources said. The three Bloomfield men — who grew up together — came to the dance together, along with Hartford native De'Quan Muhammad, 18. The dispute started during the dance, inside the Student Union.
>> The argument, which moved outside the Student Union when a fire alarm sounded, lasted less than seven minutes and ended with Howard bleeding to death in front of hundreds of people, and Parker stabbed in the leg. Howard's role in the fight is still unclear.
The fire alarm, which was set off at 12:26 a.m. and scattered people out the doors, was unrelated to the fight. According to sources, witnesses said Lomax and Hakim Muhammad ran back to their car, grabbed knives and headed back to find Parker.
>> Hood, 21, was arrested at 12:33 a.m. as he and De'Quan Muhammad searched for Hood's two gold teeth, which he had removed and later dropped in preparation for a fistfight, sources said. De'Quan Muhammad, who was arrested last week, is alleged to have lied twice to police about being at the scene. Sources said several witnesses placed him there based on what he was wearing: a yellow and red Pittsburgh Pirates hat and a multicolored T-shirt with the word "Fatal" written across the front.
>> Sources said that the case against Lomax may hinge on a bloodstain found on a "Phat Farm" reversible jacket seized from Lomax by state police detectives the morning after Howard was killed, according to a search warrant document filed at Superior Court in Rockville. The document does not say if forensic tests tie the blood to Howard. Deron Freeman, Lomax's attorney, said Friday that the blood was not Howard's.
>> Police confiscated Parker's bloody Coogi jeans, along with his underwear and a sweat shirt he wore, which had no blood on it. They also took a DNA sample from Parker.
>> During the initial investigation, police found a fingerprint on the fire alarm box, court records show. Police originally thought the person who pulled the alarm was connected to the fight and they took fingerprint samples from several of the possible combatants, including Howard at his autopsy. But as the investigation unfolded police discovered that the fire alarm had nothing to do with the fight.
Jamal Todd, 21, the Eastern Connecticut State University student who police allege pulled the fire alarm, has no connection to either the football players or the Bloomfield group. Todd was charged with falsely reporting an incident and reckless endangerment and was released on a promise to appear in court next month.
Police sources said he pulled the fire alarm in anger after he couldn't get into the dance because it was overcrowded.
"Because the warrants were all served together there's been a perception that Jamal was a co-conspirator with these guys and that is simply not true," said Hartford attorney John Budlong, who represents Todd. "He never got into the dance and he left before most of the people were out of the building, and he never saw any fight."
State police sources say that while it is impossible to know what would have happened if the fire alarm hadn't been pulled, it forced everyone to leave the dance, created confusion and allowed the Bloomfield men to go back to their car and then return without having to try to get back into the dance with knives.
There were no metal detectors at the dance but there were at least two UConn police officers and private security people screening partygoers as they entered, which would have made it difficult to bring a weapon inside.
After Howard was stabbed, he staggered a short distance from the scene before he collapsed. Teammates Kashif Moore and Michael Smith frantically tried to stop the bleeding until medical personnel arrived. Howard, 20, was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford.
Lomax was charged with murder and is being held with bail set at $2 million. His next court date is Friday.
Hakim Muhammad was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree assault and will appear in court again on Nov. 20.
Most of the search warrants on the Bloomfield group were served the day after Howard's death. Police towed Lomax's silver Nissan Maxima from his home and took the clothes they were wearing. Sources familiar with the investigation said all the men gave police statements that day without attorneys present, and also agreed to have their photos taken for a police lineup.
The lineup was shown to at least one UConn freshman who was at the dance, court records show. And police also seized a photo card belonging to that student because they believed there could be relevant photos of the fight on it.
The pictures from that camera led UConn police to ask anyone who may have taken cellphone pictures at the dance or afterward to come forward.
State police sources said the investigation is ongoing as police try and tie up loose ends. The sources said that because of the arrests, people who feared retribution if they cooperated with police have now started talking.
Despite searching storm drains, a small pond on campus and Lomax's car and his home police have been unable to find the murder weapon.
UConn spokesman Michael Kirk said, "The police have said that they are still in the midst of their investigation and that the affidavits in the case remain sealed. To avoid jeopardizing or interfering with that investigation, the university is going to decline to comment."
Parker has not spoken publicly about the fight. Because he is academically ineligible to play on the team, Parker does not travel with them, but he has been on campus attending classes and participating in football practices. In fact, one week he was named scout player of the week.
Several attempts to reach Parker and Portee have been unsuccessful. Although the investigation is continuing, state police sources said they do not expect any UConn players to get arrested.
Parker has a history of getting into scuffles dating back to when he was a juvenile, according to police records in Florida. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office said Parker was arrested on a burglary charge in May 2004. He was accused of burglarizing Southeast High School in Bradenton, the records show. Because he was a juvenile it is unclear if he was convicted.
Parker was twice given warnings for trespassing at different locations, once on April 22, 2006, and once on April 12, 2008, records show. The most serious case involved a fight in a mall in his hometown of Bradenton. Police records show Parker floored another teenager with one punch.
The teen had to be flown to a local hospital for treatment. Police did not arrest Parker because they said the other teenager started the fight and Parker acted in self-defense.
Arrest warrants in the case have been sealed and prosecutors and police have released little information about what happened inside and outside the UConn Student Union in the early morning of Oct. 18. But law enforcementsources, court documents and witness interviews outline a confluence of events that led to Howard's violent and sudden death and the arrest of John W. Lomax III, 21, on a murder charge.
>> Brian Parker and A.J. Portee, two redshirt freshmen on UConn's football team, were "the aggressors" in the fight with the three Bloomfield men, Lomax, Johnny Hood, 21, and Hakim Muhammad, 20, the sources said. The three Bloomfield men — who grew up together — came to the dance together, along with Hartford native De'Quan Muhammad, 18. The dispute started during the dance, inside the Student Union.
>> The argument, which moved outside the Student Union when a fire alarm sounded, lasted less than seven minutes and ended with Howard bleeding to death in front of hundreds of people, and Parker stabbed in the leg. Howard's role in the fight is still unclear.
The fire alarm, which was set off at 12:26 a.m. and scattered people out the doors, was unrelated to the fight. According to sources, witnesses said Lomax and Hakim Muhammad ran back to their car, grabbed knives and headed back to find Parker.
>> Hood, 21, was arrested at 12:33 a.m. as he and De'Quan Muhammad searched for Hood's two gold teeth, which he had removed and later dropped in preparation for a fistfight, sources said. De'Quan Muhammad, who was arrested last week, is alleged to have lied twice to police about being at the scene. Sources said several witnesses placed him there based on what he was wearing: a yellow and red Pittsburgh Pirates hat and a multicolored T-shirt with the word "Fatal" written across the front.
>> Sources said that the case against Lomax may hinge on a bloodstain found on a "Phat Farm" reversible jacket seized from Lomax by state police detectives the morning after Howard was killed, according to a search warrant document filed at Superior Court in Rockville. The document does not say if forensic tests tie the blood to Howard. Deron Freeman, Lomax's attorney, said Friday that the blood was not Howard's.
>> Police confiscated Parker's bloody Coogi jeans, along with his underwear and a sweat shirt he wore, which had no blood on it. They also took a DNA sample from Parker.
>> During the initial investigation, police found a fingerprint on the fire alarm box, court records show. Police originally thought the person who pulled the alarm was connected to the fight and they took fingerprint samples from several of the possible combatants, including Howard at his autopsy. But as the investigation unfolded police discovered that the fire alarm had nothing to do with the fight.
Jamal Todd, 21, the Eastern Connecticut State University student who police allege pulled the fire alarm, has no connection to either the football players or the Bloomfield group. Todd was charged with falsely reporting an incident and reckless endangerment and was released on a promise to appear in court next month.
Police sources said he pulled the fire alarm in anger after he couldn't get into the dance because it was overcrowded.
"Because the warrants were all served together there's been a perception that Jamal was a co-conspirator with these guys and that is simply not true," said Hartford attorney John Budlong, who represents Todd. "He never got into the dance and he left before most of the people were out of the building, and he never saw any fight."
State police sources say that while it is impossible to know what would have happened if the fire alarm hadn't been pulled, it forced everyone to leave the dance, created confusion and allowed the Bloomfield men to go back to their car and then return without having to try to get back into the dance with knives.
There were no metal detectors at the dance but there were at least two UConn police officers and private security people screening partygoers as they entered, which would have made it difficult to bring a weapon inside.
After Howard was stabbed, he staggered a short distance from the scene before he collapsed. Teammates Kashif Moore and Michael Smith frantically tried to stop the bleeding until medical personnel arrived. Howard, 20, was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford.
Lomax was charged with murder and is being held with bail set at $2 million. His next court date is Friday.
Hakim Muhammad was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree assault and will appear in court again on Nov. 20.
Most of the search warrants on the Bloomfield group were served the day after Howard's death. Police towed Lomax's silver Nissan Maxima from his home and took the clothes they were wearing. Sources familiar with the investigation said all the men gave police statements that day without attorneys present, and also agreed to have their photos taken for a police lineup.
The lineup was shown to at least one UConn freshman who was at the dance, court records show. And police also seized a photo card belonging to that student because they believed there could be relevant photos of the fight on it.
The pictures from that camera led UConn police to ask anyone who may have taken cellphone pictures at the dance or afterward to come forward.
State police sources said the investigation is ongoing as police try and tie up loose ends. The sources said that because of the arrests, people who feared retribution if they cooperated with police have now started talking.
Despite searching storm drains, a small pond on campus and Lomax's car and his home police have been unable to find the murder weapon.
UConn spokesman Michael Kirk said, "The police have said that they are still in the midst of their investigation and that the affidavits in the case remain sealed. To avoid jeopardizing or interfering with that investigation, the university is going to decline to comment."
Parker has not spoken publicly about the fight. Because he is academically ineligible to play on the team, Parker does not travel with them, but he has been on campus attending classes and participating in football practices. In fact, one week he was named scout player of the week.
Several attempts to reach Parker and Portee have been unsuccessful. Although the investigation is continuing, state police sources said they do not expect any UConn players to get arrested.
Parker has a history of getting into scuffles dating back to when he was a juvenile, according to police records in Florida. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office said Parker was arrested on a burglary charge in May 2004. He was accused of burglarizing Southeast High School in Bradenton, the records show. Because he was a juvenile it is unclear if he was convicted.
Parker was twice given warnings for trespassing at different locations, once on April 22, 2006, and once on April 12, 2008, records show. The most serious case involved a fight in a mall in his hometown of Bradenton. Police records show Parker floored another teenager with one punch.
The teen had to be flown to a local hospital for treatment. Police did not arrest Parker because they said the other teenager started the fight and Parker acted in self-defense.