I’m adding crime reporter to my resume this year. I’ve spent more hours in Rockville Superior Court in the last month than I have on the Gampel Pavilion court.
Anyway, just wanted to pass along a few things learned from the arrest warrant affidavit for John Lomax I got a copy of Tuesday. Lomax is the man charged with Jasper Howard’s murder.
OK, first off, I’m a reasonably intelligent (very, actually, but I’m being humble for these purposes) person and I have some experience with court documents and police matters. That being said, the affidavit here has a lot of information with contradictory information and odd language. I’m a bit confused.
But here are some of the things the document reveals:
– Some of the witnesses said Howard threw a punch just before or as he was being slashed/stabbed. But the whole fight began as a disagreement that didn’t involve Howard or Lomax.
– There were really two “fights.” One just outside the Student Union and another near the Husky Dog statue.
– Johnny Hood, John Lomax (a.k.a. “Puda“), DeQuan Muhammad, and Hakim Muhammad (a.k.a. “Keem“) drove together from the Bloomfield area to UConn for a party Oct. 17.
They went to meet Leroy Moton, a UConn student who is a cousin of both Hood and De’Quan Muhammad, and attend a party at the Student Union.
All of the men grew up in Bloomfield.
– At the same party were UConn football players Jasper Howard, Brian Parker, A.J. Portee, Kelmetrus Wylie, Kashif Moore and Michael Smith.
– An argument started when Parker, a wide receiver at UConn who is not playing this season due to academic issues, allegedly “disrespected” a girl. Hood apparently took offense and he and Parker began yelling at each other.
This happens just after a fire alarm is pulled and everyone is forced to exit the building.
UConn defensive end Portee was also there when things first started and according to Hood’s statement to police was also “talking at him.”
Parker, according to one account, says “I can’t believe he tried me! He tried me!”
– UConn Police and a private security firm who are at the event notice a “verbal disagreement” going on between some black males. It doesn’t get too heated indoors but they are quickly informed that there is a fight outside the building.
In an area police refer to as “the grassy area just south of the doors” to the Student Union, Hood and Portee continue to argue. Hood tells police later that he is just trying to explain to Portee why he was first arguing with Parker.
Hood takes out his grill (gold teeth with something of a retainer look) because he believes a fight is about to start and, indeed, he says Portee takes a swing at him. Hood says he ducks and deflects the blow.
De’Quan Muhammad, according to Parker’s version of the events, kept putting his hands in his pants as if he was reaching for something and that he was saying “I’m gonna f— all of you up!”
De’Quan Muhammad then rushed at Parker, he says, and Parker feared Muhammad had a gun.
Also during this altercation, according to some witnesses, Lomax is also punched. Parker is also said to have thrown a punch by some witnesses, though it’s not clear who, if anyone, the punch connects with.
– At this point police notice the fight and come over to break it up. Hood says he and Moton spend the next 5 or 10 minutes looking for Hood’s grill, which they believe is somewhere on the ground. Police walk by and question Hood but he tells them nothing about the fight.
Either way, believing order had been restored, the police then returned to the area just outside the Student Union. After all, 350 people have just exited and they believe they’ll be needed closer to the building.
This is when police believe Lomax and Hakim Muhammad return to Lomax’s car and arm themselves with knives.
One witness said saw two black males in the Field House parking lot. One of them shouted “They can’d do me like that!”
Another witness, one who knew Hakim Muhammad and recognized him, said Muhammad was saying something like “people want to mess with me…I’ll show them.”
– The details of what happen next are rather muddy in the affidavit. Everyone has a slightly different story.
One witness says that a group of the football players and some of their female friends are gathered somewhere near the “walkway” between the Field House and Gampel (not far from the Husky Dog statue).
Someone in the group yells “They’re coming!” It’s apparently a reference to the return of Lomax and Muhammad, who was joined by De’Quan Muhammad according to some witnesses.
– Smith’s account of the events states that he, Parker and Howard were soon walking somewhat apart from the group and Smith began to walk back toward the Student Union. Smith began to follow Parker but soon turned around to see where Howard was.
At this point Smith says he sees two black men who had been standing on the sidewalk now by Howard. One of the men Smith describes is clearly Lomax and he identifies the other as wearing a Cincinnati Reds hat. Previously in the affidavit Da’Quan Muhammad is described as wearing such a hat.
Smith says in the affidavit that he yelled “Jazz!” Howard turns around and faces (the man he described who police believe is Lomax) and takes a swing at him with his right arm. Howard then, according to Smith’s version, “moved back with his body and jumped into the street.” Smith said he didn’t think Howard made contact with the other man.
Another witness said they saw Lomax “swing his left hand at Jazz” and that it looked like he “slashed or stabbed” Howard on his stomach.
Yet another witness said Lomax removed his hands from his pants very quickly and “made one quick motion towards Jazz’s stomach area.” When Lomax pulled his hand away the witness said he had an object in his hand about the size of a pen.
– However it happened, Howard was stabbed near the Husky Dog statue outside Gampel Pavilion. He then ran toward his friends and teammates at the Student Union yelling “They got me!”
When police got to Howard on the sidewalk in front of the Student Union Howard’s head was being held by one woman according to the affidavit and another woman was attempting to put pressure on Howard’s stomach to stop the bleeding.
UConn coach Randy Edsall had said previously that Kashif Moore and Michael Smith were with Howard performing those actions, too.
– It us unclear when Parker was stabbed. One witness account says that at the time Howard is stabbed Parker and Portee are “facing off” with another man and at one point Portee tries to pull Parker away and his back is turned. This may be where Parker is stabbed “in the upper back.”
– De’Quan Muhammad, according to the afidavit, told Moton during their drive back to Hartford early in the morning following the events that “Keem did it!” and that he saw Keem (Hakim Muhammad) “poke somebody with beady dreads.”
– Lomax is being held on $2 million bond and is due back in court Friday.
– Hood was due in court Tuesday but his case was continued to Dec. 1.
– 21-year-old Jamal Todd, who it seems has no other connection to the crimes other than to pull the fire alarm, was due in court Tuesday on charges of reckless endangerment and falsely reporting an incident. His case was continued to Dec. 8.
– Chris Mutchler, the UConn student accused of hindering prosecution, interfering with an officer, breach of peace, threatening and an act of terrorism, was also supposed to be in court. His case, which stems from allegedly posting threats on the internet to those who might come forward with evidence in the Howard murder, was continued to Nov. 18.
- Neill
