Burgos: Death of UConn’s Howard a tragedy

When Jasper Howard committed to Connecticut to play football three years ago, he thought it was… When Jasper Howard committed to Connecticut to play football three years ago, he thought it was a safe choice. Not because of anything to do with sports, though. Howard grew up in a rough neighborhood in Miami but was headed to rural Storrs, Conn., for college — the first person in his family to do so — far away from rough inner city life, tucked away in a safe and secluded campus.

“All I wanted him to do was go to school and get an education, and he was doing what I asked him to do,” Joanglia Howard, his mother, told WSVN-TV in Miami.

What occurred this past Sunday, then, was at the height of cruel irony. Howard died from a single stab wound to the abdomen on UConn’s campus following a school dance in the student union. He was 20 years old.

Howard, a junior, had started every game as cornerback for the Huskies since his sophomore year. On Saturday, he helped his team to a 38-25 win over Louisville with a career-high 11 tackles. It was homecoming weekend.

That night, Howard was celebrating with fellow students. Police say that at about 12:30 a.m., a fight broke out after a fire alarm was pulled during a university-sanctioned dance that evacuated about 300 students. Howard and teammate BrProxy-Connection: keep-alive

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n Parker suffered stab wounds after the evacuation. Parker’s injuries were reportedly minor, but Howard was airlifted to a Hartford hospital. By that time, it was too late.

Shock waves ran through the campus. Storrs, typically considered a sheltered enclave of student life, had transformed into a crime scene.

“It’s pretty scary that it happened right on the center of campus, which is where you would think you are the safest,” Lauren Jacobs, a Connecticut senior, said. “Everyone is really sad and shocked about it and wants to find who did it really badly.”

Police have issued a warrant for arrest for a person believed to be the perpetrator. But no punishment and no arrest will ever fully vindicate the loss suffered by Howard’s death.

Howard was an expectant father, his girlfriend pregnant with their first child. Before the child ever took its first breath, its father took his last. The bright and well-deserved future of Howard will never be known, but what do we make of the unborn and its future? It will endure a life without a father, a life taken in utter foolishness and despicableness.

Throughout this week, the UConn community planned several events in memoriam of its fallen peer. Tuesday called for a day of silence, and students wore dark clothing. Wednesday, a candle-lit vigil was held. Today and tomorrow, a day of reflection will be held where students will write notes of memories or feelings of Howard. On Saturday, the school will gather at the student union and watch their football Huskies play West Virginia. A formal memorial service will be held in the near future.

Certainly, these events will help to ease the collective pain of the student body. No memorial, though, will give life back to Howard. From now until forever, he is gone, all too prematurely. Howard’s death is the latest reminder of how many in this world venture through life with little perspective.

Did the person who stabbed Howard intend to kill him? Was he killed in cold blood? Perhaps not, but no matter what the reason, one’s sense of reality has to be off-kilter to do something like this.

In the most unlikely of places, the most unexpected of things happened.