Prosecutors: Witnesses ID’d UConn stabbing suspect

VERNON, Conn.—Several witnesses identified the man charged with fatally stabbing a University of Connecticut football player as the killer, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Two people arrested in the stabbing of 20-year-old Jasper Howard were arraigned in Rockville Superior Court on Wednesday. John William Lomax III, 21, is charged with murder, while 20-year-old Hakim Muhammad is charged with conspiracy to commit assault. Both are from Bloomfield.

Police have not discussed a motive and the investigators’ affidavits and arrest warrants are sealed.

But prosecutors on Wednesday argued for a high bond, saying that several witnesses reported seeing Lomax and Muhammad in an argument outside a university-sanctioned dance early Oct. 18, before they went back to Lomax’s car and returned with knives. Several witnesses also identified Lomax as the person who stabbed Howard, prosecutors said.

Lomax’s attorney, Deron Freeman, denied that his client stabbed Howard and noted that no witnesses in the investigators’ affidavit could identify Lomax with 100 percent certainty. He said even if all the allegations in the affidavit were to be true, “this was a mutual combat situation where my client was engaged.“

Lomax’s bond was kept at $2 million, while the judge set Muhammad’s bond at $450,000.

Outside of court, Lomax’s mother, Trolyn Grimes, said he was innocent. “He’s not a bad kid,“ she said. “They’re lying on him.“

Lomax, Muhammad and a third man, 21-year-old Jamal Todd of Hartford, were arrested Tuesday. Todd faces a felony charge of falsely reporting an incident and misdemeanor reckless endangerment for allegedly pulling a fire alarm that emptied the dance. He is free after posting a $5,000 bond and is due in court next month.

None of those arrested is a UConn student.

Several other football players were with him, but none has been charged. UConn football coach Randy Edsall said he hasn’t heard that any player was involved in anything other than “verbal jostling.“

Lomax, a Bloomfield High School graduate who works in information technology, goes by the nickname Pooda. His Facebook page shows he is friends with Muhammad and 21-year-old Johnny Hood of Hartford, who was arrested last week and faces charges of breach of peace and interfering with police.

Howard, whose nickname was Jazz, died at a nearby hospital from a single wound in his abdomen, only hours after helping his team to a homecoming game win over Louisville.