February 08, 2009
Student stabbed at Crossett
Details are very sketchy, but local news outlets are reporting that an unidentified Amherst student was stabbed multiple times early Sunday morning at Crossett Hall. The student was stabbed in the chest and the back.
The name of the injured male student has not been released, but the report notes that he was transported to Baystate Medical and being treated.
The alleged assailant, however, has been identified: Marcus Smith, 21, of Roxbury. Smith, who does not appear to be an Amherst student, is being held on $25,000 bail.
We have not seen a statement from the College on its website, and some of our normal outlets for campus information have not discussed the situation, but we would be surprised if some sort announcement has not been made to the on-campus community about the incident. We will share whatever information we get on this shocking situation.
UPDATE 2/9, 12:00AM. The link now contains an updated video report. According to that report (as well as correspondence we are receiving from readers), the student is listed in fair condition and, thankfully, his injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
UPDATE 2/9, 3:00PM. The Springfield Republican has posted a brief update, which notes that the alleged assailant, Marcus Smith, is a UMass student. The post also reports that Smith has entered a plea of not guilty, and is being held “without the right to bail.”
UPDATE 2/11: The Student filed its first report on the situation. The report gives us basic background on the party, sprinkled with some comments from student party monitors on duty at Crossett that night. The Student also interviewed Dean of Students Ben Lieber and College Police Chief John Carter, but apparently neither wished to provide any meaningful details on the event, including the name of the victim.
The Daily Collegian took a different reporting path and filled in some other details when it filed its own update. Relying on a probable cause statement filed by the police in the court action, that report identifies the victim as Isaac Cameron ‘11. It also cites detail from that report regarding the police’s view of what might have happened. The reporter for the Collegian story apparently did not approach anyone in the UMass or Amherst administrations for comment, nor follow up with any of the eyewitnesses identified in the report.
As of 9:00AM Central this morning, the College still does not have a statement regarding the incident up on its website, although, according to one commenter below, the on-campus community was apprised of the stabbing within a matter of hours. Could someone forward the details of that announcement to us?
Of course Brian, Parker and I would like to send our best wishes to Isaac and hopes for a full and speedy recovery.
Dave Nardolillo '98 | February 8, 2009 09:08 PM | Campus
Leslie | February 9, 2009 08:49 AM:
Current students were notified by e-mail just after the attack. We don't really know much more, except that the assailant is a student at UMass.
My RC reported at a house meeting last night that the attacker was involved in a verbal argument with another man; the victim stepped in to try to break it up, and he was stabbed.
CJ | February 10, 2009 04:19 PM:
It's hard to gauge the feelings on campus. It's somewhere between shock and anger. We don't really expect anything like this to happen here, and while this may change the culture of the nightlife (I certainly don't expect it, but it might), I suspect that things will return to normal very shortly.
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