Opinion
Elizabeth Howell homicide: SUNY Potsdam cancels lessons; off-campus capturing deemed ‘random act of violence’
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Courses had been canceled Monday at upstate New York’s SUNY Potsdam to permit college students and school time to grieve following the deadly off-campus capturing of 21-year-old faculty senior Elizabeth Howell.
Howell, a music schooling scholar at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane College of Music, was discovered mendacity on the facet of School Park Street – simply steps off campus – affected by gunshot wounds earlier than 6 p.m. Friday. She was rushed to Canton-Potsdam Hospital, the place she was pronounced lifeless, police stated.
Michael J. Snow, 31, of Massena, New York, was arrested Saturday afternoon and charged with second-degree homicide. Following an arraignment listening to within the City of Potsdam Court docket, he was remanded to St. Lawrence County Jail with no bail. Snow was neither a scholar nor an worker nor a graduate of the establishment, SUNY spokeswoman Alexandra Jacobs Wilke confirmed to Fox Information Digital.
Elizabeth Howell, a cellist with the Crane Symphony Orchestra, performing her freshman yr within the Crane Candlelight Live performance vacation efficiency in December 2018.
(Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam )
Authorities have launched few particulars a couple of potential motive. A preliminary investigation decided the capturing seemed to be an “remoted incident,” the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Workplace stated Saturday. New York State Police appealed to the general public on Sunday for details about anybody who could have noticed Snow or a grey Honda Civic bearing the New York registration KVE2731 between the hours of 5-8 p.m. Friday.
A regulation enforcement supply advised Fox Information Digital there was no relationship between the suspect and the sufferer and known as it a “random act of violence.” The investigation is being carried out by campus, native, state police, the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Workplace, and the Division of Homeland Safety.
Monday is Presidents Day, a public vacation, however SUNY Potsdam would have nonetheless usually held class, Wilke stated. Courses had been canceled contemplating the latest tragedy. Over the weekend, counseling middle workers held open drop-in hours for college students and particular periods will probably be carried out Monday for notably affected teams, akin to college students and school inside the Crane College of Music.
“We’re there to assist all of our college students and their households at the moment. That is definitely a shock to our group,” Wilke advised Fox Information Digital. “It could be a shock to any campus group, however I imagine the final murder within the Village of Potsdam was seven years in the past, and that is only a very unusual prevalence for our group, which is why it’s such a shock.”
The suspect, Michael Snow, 31, of Massena, New York, is charged with one depend of second-degree homicide. On the date of the murder, Snow was noticed working a grey Honda Civic bearing NY registration KVE2731. The car has harm to the driving force’s facet door.
(New York State Police)
Howell, who glided by “Beth,” was a cellist who carried out with the Crane Symphony Orchestra, SUNY Potsdam President Dr. Phil Neisser stated in a message to college students and colleagues Saturday.
“She was an aspiring educator with a vibrant future forward of her,” he wrote. “Please maintain Beth, alongside along with her household and family members, in your ideas and prayers this night. Your entire SUNY Potsdam group mourns her loss, and we stand collectively in unity to recollect her.”
Wilke stated the college will overview its safety measures, although the capturing occurred off campus within the Village of Potsdam, a New York city about 30 miles from the Canadian border.
“Since we’ve had an arrest, regulation enforcement are assured that there isn’t a lively menace. On the similar time, we understand college students and fogeys understandably have issues and need to really feel protected,” Wilke stated. “We’re doing a full after-action report with our native police departments. We’ll do a overview of all our safety measures. We will’t management the situations off the campus, however we are able to definitely work with our companions on the village. Individually, we’ve got escorts that may assist college students get dwelling or wherever they’re going in the event that they don’t really feel protected, each by means of the police division and other people simply providing to assist.”
Wilke stated the college will probably be holding music remedy periods and is planning a musical occasion to permit folks to course of grief and play items in Howell’s reminiscence on Wednesday. It won’t be a proper live performance, to take away the strain of good efficiency and little rehearsal time, Wilke stated. A proper live performance and different memorial occasions in Howell’s honor will probably be scheduled later within the semester.
Campus assets, together with the health middle, library and scholar union, will stay open Monday, as a way to give college students some semblance of normalcy and a possibility to come back collectively, Wilke stated. There may be additionally a devoted memorial house in Howell’s honor that continues to develop every single day with flowers and mementos and notes, which can later be collected and given to Howell’s household, she added.
