A 20-year-old New York City man surrendered to Cambridge police this evening and will now be charged with murdering a Cambridge man inside a Harvard University residence hall Monday afternoon, Middlesex prosecutors said tonight.
The man was identified as Jabrai Jordan Copney and he is expected to be arraigned in Cambridge District Court on Friday in connection with the murder of 21-year-old Justin Cosby, according to a statement released by Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone, Jr.
Cosby was shot inside the J-entry way of Kirkland House around 5 p.m. After being shot he ran up Dunster street to Mt. Auburn street where he collapsed. He died Tuesday morning in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Copney is not a Harvard University student, but investigators were probing whether Cosby was selling marijuana to Harvard students as they sought his killer
Prosecutors said in the statement that they learned Copney "was visiting friends at the campus. It is alleged that the defendant, along with others, confronted Cosby in a common area inside the Kirkland House. During the course of the confrontation, multiple shots were fired. One of those shots struck Cosby, resulting in his death. It is believed that the defendant and Cosby were known to one another.''
Cosby's death has led some students to rethink their stance on illegal drugs being sold or consumed, students said today.
"Since the shooting was tied to something going on with Harvard undergraduates, it's become a Harvard problem, and the university is going to have to address it properly," said Timothy Turner, a senior. "There were students put in danger. That is something the university has to pay attention to. You don't want this to continue to expand and become a larger problem in the future."
The Harvard Crimson reported today that a Harvard student, whose identity was withheld by the student newspaper, had revealed to the paper two text messages traced back to a cell phone registered to Cosby's mother. The messages make explicit references to popular strains of marijuana.
University officials yesterday would not answer questions about drugs on campus and directed all questions about the shooting investigation to the Middlesex District Attorney's office. Investigators are still searching for the perpetrators.
According to court records, Cosby had at least one minor brush with law enforcement when he was arrested by Cambridge police in 2007 and charged with possession of marijuana after a small plastic bag and two marijuana cigarettes were found inside his car. The drug possession charge was continued without a finding and then dismissed in June 2008 because Cosby had no new arrests during that time, records show.
Cosby's mother, Denise Cosby,did not return calls to her hometoday, but the family issued a statement defending the reputation of the 2005 graduate of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.
"We are still in disbelief of the horror and shock of Justin’s murder. He was not a 'hoodlum' or 'gangster' -- people actually laugh at the thought of him being referred to in that manner,'' the family said. "Justin was a fashion trendsetter, basketball player, student and self-admitted 'mama’s boy.' He was looking forward to picking up new studies, furthering his aspirations to become successful and marrying his long-time girlfriend."
A private wake and funeral service will be held for Cosby tomorrow.
Nearly a dozen Harvard students interviewed yesterday said they do not believe drugs are a pervasive problem on campus, just a fact woven into the fabric of undergraduate life and something non-users could easily ignore -- until this week.
"People make personal choices and as long as they don't harm other people, they can do whatever they want," said Alan Ibrahim, cq a Harvard sophomore and a Kirkland resident who attended high school with Cosby but did not know him. "But to actually see something go bad, it's really frightening."
A Harvard professor and a house master at a different residence hall who did not want to be named because of the sensitive nature of the investigation said the university has a zero-tolerance policy toward drugs. Those caught using drugs are usually disciplined internally, including the possibility of expulsion.
"This is of tremendous concern," the house master said. "Events like this underscore the issues of both physical security and the fact that drug abuse is occurring within the undergraduate population to some degree and we have to remain vigilant about it."
Other students underscored the fact that Harvard is not an ivy-ensconced sanctuary. and its students are not perfect.
"We have this terrible stigma that just because we go to Harvard we must be immaculate," said sophomore Brad Paraszczak, who also lives in Kirkland. "Harvard is not in a bubble. We have problems as well, and this
could have happened anywhere."