Teammates with UConn's Howard at time of stabbing; no suspects yet

STORRS, Conn. -- Police interviewed dozens of witnesses on Monday as they hunted for the killer of a University of Connecticut football player who was stabbed during a fight outside a school-sanctioned dance over the weekend.

A police spokesman said there had been no arrests and there were no suspects, although around 300 people were in the area when a fire alarm sounded and students evacuated the building. Jasper Howard was killed -- his coach identified the body at the hospital on Sunday morning -- and another UConn student was treated for stab wounds and released.

"We're pursuing active investigative leads," UConn police Maj. Ronal Blicher said. "The investigation will continue into this week."

Howard, 20, of Miami, was stabbed to death early Sunday morning. Investigators have not released the name of the second male UConn student who was stabbed, but say he was treated and released from a local hospital.

Blicher said Howard was wounded during a fight between two groups that included students and non-students. The altercation broke out just after a fire alarm went off in a student center, forcing around 300 people to evacuate from the party and dance sponsored by the school's West Indian Awareness Organization.

Authorities wouldn't say if any other athletes were involved.

Blicher said it was the first homicide at the university in the more than 30 years he has been associated with the school.

The violence came less than 12 hours after UConn's 38-25 homecoming victory over Louisville.

Huskies coach Randy Edsall identified Howard's body at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford Sunday morning.

Edsall said later Sunday that he and the team were heartbroken and devastated over the loss of Howard, a junior and the team's starting cornerback who came to the school to get away from the violence on the streets of his hometown. He was the first person in his family to go to college.

Police were trying to determine if the alarm and the fight were related. The university community was sent messages warning them to be cautious, but Blicher said officials don't believe anyone else is in danger and that the stabbing did not appear premeditated.

"The university does not have an individual walking around just stabbing people," Blicher said.

Some students on Monday said they never considered their campus unsafe before. Some, like freshman Alexander Wegh of Terryville, stayed indoors on Sunday as police gathered evidence.

"I kind of just stayed inside [Sunday] because they really didn't tell us what was going on," he said. "I didn't come here thinking about safety, because its not like when you pick your school you're like, 'Oh, its going to be really safe or not.' You assume it's going to be safe."

Rob Rosado, a senior acting major, called the stabbing "disgusting."

"It's absolutely atrocious that this kind of thing is happening so close, or at all really," he said. "This shouldn't be happening."

Howard's death was especially tragic, because he was about to become a father, Edsall said. Neither police nor the university provided any additional information about the expectant mother, whom Edsall identified as Howard's girlfriend.

The coach gathered his team at its training facility at 6 a.m. to deliver the news.

Howard and the other student who was stabbed were taken to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, where the surviving student was treated and released. Howard was later airlifted to St. Francis, where he died.

Howard had a career-high 11 tackles Saturday and made perhaps the game's biggest play, forcing a fumble as Louisville was about to score with UConn up 21-13 in the third quarter.

"I felt my hand go on the ball and I felt that I had a chance to get it out," he said after the game. "I just stripped it out. It was a big play. We needed it."

Joanglia Howard said she got news of her son's death about 4 a.m. Sunday, and described him as a "good kid" who never got into trouble.

"All I wanted him to do was go to school and get an education, and he was doing what I asked him to do," she told WSVN-TV in Miami.

UConn was arranging for Howard's parents to come to Connecticut. He also had two teenage sisters.

Edsall said the team will not practice until Tuesday, but plans to play next Saturday at West Virginia.