Western Michigan redshirt freshman Joeviair Kennedy has been charged with murder and armed robbery following the death of fellow 20-year-old student, Jacob Ryan Jones.
On December 8, Jones was shot and killed in an off-campus apartment during a robbery of a phone and money. "The University has learned that the victim of last night’s shooting was a WMU student," Western Michigan president Dr. John M. Dunn said in a statement. "The WMU community is stunned by the realization that a promising life has been lost. We extend our condolences to the family and commit to working with law enforcement officials to ensure that the responsible individuals are apprehended and that justice is served."
This past Friday, Broncos athletic director Kathy Beauregard wouldn't mention Kennedy by name, but did acknowledge that a student-athlete was considered a person of interest in the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety's homicide investigation. Kennedy has since been suspended by the university, removed from the program, and scrubbed from the team's website.
Over the weekend, Western Michigan basketball coach Steve Hawkins addressed Kennedy's arrest and removal from the team. "It's a devastating loss for our university," Hawkins said, following the Broncos' 74-67 victory over James Madison on Saturday. "It's a devastating tragedy for everybody involved. Lives were changed forever. We're very, very respectful of that, and we're very shook by the whole thing."
Prior to joining Western Michigan, Kennedy was not only an exceptional basketball player at Muskegon High School, but he was also a talented football player. In his second year with the Broncos, Kennedy averaged 3.4 points in 7.4 minutes per game while appearing in the team's first eight games.
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