Maryland state police are investigating the murder of a University of Maryland Eastern Shore student who was stabbed Feb. 16 during the school’s homecoming festivities.
According to UMES’ website, Edmond A. St. Clair, 21, of Severn, Md. was pronounced dead at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury shortly after sustaining injuries stemming from an altercation between a group of people.
The incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. as St. Clair’s younger brother and cousin came to visit him at school for the university’s homecoming events.
The victim’s brother, Isiah St. Clair told Baltimore CBS affiliate WJZ that the three of them were driving across campus to get food, when they encountered a group of three other men in the street.
“I tried to tell them, ‘Get out of the middle of the street’ and after they started talking all this other stuff,” Isiah St. Clair told WJZ.
He explained that his brother intervened and was stabbed in the chest, shortly thereafter.
EMS officials later arrived on the scene and Edmond St. Clair was taken to the hospital. According to WJZ, the victim, who was a junior at the university, was a father-to-be.
Juliette Bell, the university’s president said in a statement that it was “heart wrenching” to inform the victim’s parents that their son had been murdered.
“Edmond’s family has our assurance that campus police officers are working closely with the Maryland State Police , which is the primary investigative agency, to apprehend the perpetrator of this tragic crime,” the statement read.
Police believe the incident was part of an ongoing dispute and not a random occurrence. The three suspects in the case are all African-American males in their late teens or early 20s.
On Feb. 18, the Crime Solvers tip line announced a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Edmond St. Clair’s stabbing death comes two years after Dominique Frazier, a student at Bowie State University was killed during the school’s homecoming week. After Frazier’s roommate, Alexis Simpson, was charged with first-degree murder in the case, she was acquitted of all charges in November 2012.