UPDATE: HARVARD SHOOTING: Justin Cosby, Student, Dies

UPDATE 05.19
The student who was shot on Harvard's campus Monday has died, the Boston Globe reports. The victim has been identified as a Salem State College student.

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UPDATE: The Boston Globe adds that the victim, a student, was shot in the abdomen and that the police are looking for several assailants.

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The Harvard Crimson is reporting that an unidentified man was shot on the campus of Harvard University just before 5 p.m. this afternoon.

The Crimson reports:

The victim was bleeding but still conscious, according to Dental School student Jared M. Sprague, who says he helped support the victim after the shooting. Sprague said the victim appeared to be "college-aged."

Sergeant James DeFrancesco of the Cambridge Police Department said around 6 p.m. that he did not know whether the victim was a Harvard student.

The victim was being treated at a nearby hospital, Sgt. DeFrancesco told reporters.

The Boston Globe reports that the victim was shot at the entrance to Kirkland House dormitory and collapsed on Dunster Street.

Story continues below

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According to the Globe:

The Cambridge and Harvard police departments were still searching in around Kirkland House, one of Harvard's 12 undergraduate houses, for the assailant, according to a message sent to the Harvard community. University officials asked students to remain where they are and report unusual activity to the Harvard Police Department.

This email was sent to faculty and students:

Kirkland House Students and Tutors,

We have been informed that a shooting took place minutes ago in J-Entry of the Annex.

The Annex where the police are proceeding with an investigation has been cordoned off.

We ask everyone to cooperate with the police and staff in the hours ahead. We will apprise everyone of further developments.

Please be patient and use the dining hall, the basement, or the JCR for the next few hours until you can return to your rooms.

Anyone with any information should talk to the Harvard Police immediately.

At this time, identities of the victim and perpetrator(s) are unknown.

Comments

[Nathan Lemmon]

According to a reporter for the Harvard Crimson an unidentified student reveled text messages he got from the victim who was apparently dealing marijuana on campus. One of the text messages, sent to this Harvard student’s cell phone on May 5, makes explicit references to “jak herrer bud” and “CaliMIST,” both known to be popular strains of marijuana, according to an editor from the marijuana publication High Times magazine. The callback number on both messages matches a cell phone number registered to a Denise Cosby of Cambridge, Mass., the victim's (mother)?.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=528262

[chuckinblack]

very sad. the comments from above are all well and good re:criminals have guns,but the bigger problem is our obsession w/violence.....and all this at harvard. as an alumni of northeastern university,i thought we had the monopoly on violence in a college neighborhood.it just goes to show it can happen anywhere at any time....

[RobbUry]

I thought it would be hard to shoot ones' self in the stomach too, so I tried it. It was pretty easy. Oh mother of God, ouch!

He went to Harvard! He went to Yale! He went to Harvard! He went to Yale! He went to Harvard! He went to Yale! He went to Harvard! He went to Yale! He went to Harvard! He went to Yale! He went to Harvard! He went to Yale! He went to Harvard! He went to Yale! He went to Harvard! He went to Yale! He went to Harvard! He went to Yale!

[Pegi]

this country will never see a decrease in these kinds of deaths until they address the gun issue which no one has ever addressed successfully.

[PavePusher]

You got a workable solution, or are you just recreational bitchin'?

[ObamacratInCA]

Isolated gun incidents in 2009:

5/19/09: Harvard. Justin Cosby, 21, of Cambridge dies from gunshot to abdomen.

5/7: Stephen Morgan shoots, kills Wesleyan Johanna Justin-Jinich.

5/6: CA. Contractor shoots, kills live-in girlfriend, 3 1/2-year-old son and himself.

4/26: U of GA professor shoots, kills 3.

4/26: During arrest for wife beating, Joshua Cartwright, 28 shoots, kills two sheriff's deputies.

4/10: Henry Ford Community College. Man fatally shoots 20 year old woman, self.

4/8: FL. Woman shoots her son then kills herself at a shooting range.

4/4: PA. Jobless gunman Richard Poplawski shoots, kills 3 officers.

4/4: NY Immigration Services Center. Jiverly Voong shoots, kills 13.

3/29: Robert Stewart, 45, shot and killed 8 at Pinelake Health and Rehab in Carthage, NC.

3/29: CA Devan Kalathat, 42, shot and killed his 2 kids, three relatives, critically injured his wife, then kills himself.

3/21: Lovelle Mixon, 26, shot and killed four Oakland, CA police officers.

3/10: Michael McLendon, 28, kills 10 people " including his mother, 4 relatives, the wife and child of a deputy, then himself.

3/8: A gunman fatally shoots Dr. Fred Winters in a Maryville, IL church.

2/23: 7 people, incl. a 20-month-old baby, were shot during Mardi Gras.

2/23: Jordan Brown, 11 shoots his father's pregnant girlfriend.

1/27: L.A. man upset over lost job kills wife, 5 kids, himself.

[ObamacratInCA]

Officers said Justin Cosby, 21, of Cambridge was shot in the abdomen before 5 p.m. Monday and taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he died the following day.

[bwin]

Harvard's neighborhood beginning to sound like that of USC's (U of Southern California). Maybe Harvard's campus needs to be closed, too.

[alice09]

Cable News says the victim was not a student.
As you are keeping this story posted, shouldn't you update?

[Solja]

You are assuming that cable news, which is often wrong, is right. I would say to go on Harvard's website and get the facts without the spin.

[Niasia]

This is unfortunate

[3rdpartypatriot]

How did this happen?

Guns are completely banned from the Harvard campus. Nobody is allowed to have them! How could somebody have had one?!?!?!

-3pp

[josechan1]

ah, you walk right through the gates with it!.....the yard is completely open and anyone can just walk right in with a gun or whatever in their bags/pockets.

[FairTalk]

Gee. didn't I suggest the cause and effect here? But you rejected it?

The victim is not a student at Harvard. If there were perps, they are also not students at Harvard. How did the gun shoot the vic? common, now. Someone brought the gun with them, to the site on Campus, and shot the vic.

Gun control controls guns, not people.

[3rdpartypatriot]

So what your telling me is that the million mom march is full of s*** when they say that campus and urban gun violence will be reduced by more gun controls like registration and firearm ID cards?

Who woulda known? /sarc

-3pp

[JNagarya]

What he is saying is that which the far-right lunatic fringe Constitution-hating NRA says:

The way to put out a fire is by pouring gasoline on it.

For such loons there can never be enough guns. What they want is a society of terrorism and terrorists. Paranoia as the norm.

As for the Second Amendment: there was only ONE posited "individual right" debated cocerning that amendment --

". . . but no person [INDIVIDUAL] religiously scrupulous of [AGAINST] bearing arms, shall be compelled [INVOLUNTARY] to render military service [in the MILITIA] in person."

That was voted down, the OBVIOUS result being that the Second Amendment has nothing whatever to do with "indiviudal" anything. And as Title 10 and Scalaia make clear, the Second Amendment does not "PROTECT" that which is within its scope FROM the rule of law -- from, that is, REGULATION.

[joebftsplk]

Excuse me for sounding like a feminist, but I think testosterone has a lot to do with gun violence. You don't hear many stories about women shooting people. This testosterone problem is, I think, what animates terrorists. Now don't get me wrong; I love guys, have a very masculine husband, son and friends. But the hormonal urges of young male persons sometimes overwhelm their logic. This is why we need gun-control laws. It happens that guys get into fights, but if they don't have access to guns the outcome is less likely to be lethal. And we females have a stake in this; we don't want to see our menfolk gunned down.

We women have our estrogen hormonal problems, too, but they seldom lead to loss of life.

[Menckenlite]

Harvard campus police carry loaded weapons as well as US agents who frequently visit the campus. Some faculty members have concealed pistol carry permits too.

[Elabacki]

So much for the "this always happens below the Mason-Dixon Line" theory

[redsongia]

It does ALWAYS happen there. The fact that only one person was shot, (not 14 in a mass killing spree) and it wasn't a fatal shooting, yet, made the headlines is a testiment to the fact that it's rare.

[BlueZoo]

Are you nuts? The last time I looked Colorado wasn't south of the Mason-Dixon line and the Columbine mass murders happened there. Pennsylvania isn't south either and the Amish schoolhouse shootings happened there. There's also Toronto, New York, New Jersey...and the list goes on. This happens EVERYWHERE!

[CaliTLC]

WHAT THE?????

[wyldthings]

I'm a Vietnam Combat Marine and believe in the second amendment but do not own a weapon. I've seen the results of gunfire and it's terrible. However I'm considering revisiting this issue. I personally do not believe a T.V or some Jewelry is worth taking a life over. In California they might have to release 30,000 felons and also lay off police and fireman. Some of you might think this an over reaction but Jobs loss, bad economy and crime increases and violent crimes against citizens soar.

[PavePusher]

" I personally do not believe a T.V or some Jewelry is worth taking a life over."

The problem is, many criminals do believe it's worth your life.

Your personal safety and self defense is your responsibility. No other individual or organisation can take that responsibility from you or for you.

[redsongia]

Ah, yes, a shootout in the middle of Harvard Square would be a much better resolution.

[JNagarya]

You can "believe in" the Second Amendment all you want. But it has nothing whatever to do with "individual" anything. It concerns the PUBLIC institution that is the MILITIA, not the Private, individual ownership of guns. There has ALWAYS been SEPARATE bodies of laws governing EACH.

There IS a private, individual right to own guns, but it is not in, and is not found on, the Second Amendment. As concerns gun control laws, this is the principle -- public safety -- on which they are based:

No sane society leaves dangerous substances and objects lying around unregulated.

Scalia got one thing right: the Second Amendment does not PROTECT that which is within its scope FROM the rule of law; gun control laws ARE CONSTITUTIONAL.

[PavePusher]

The courts, legislatures and "The People" seem to disagree with you.

[gretasmom]

Thank you for reconsidering your position. I believe in the American Democracy... but some areas are fine for hunting... outdoors and shooting ranges. The middle of Harvard Sq. and Times Sq are types of places where guns should be considered a menace to society at large. I feel the same way about pornography... while it is legal, I know that children and many others are victims of the violence that tend to surround the business of pornography. How much of my freedom should I give up so that I am sure that community I live in will be safe for all inhabitants? My prayers are with Justin Cosby's family and all in that Cambridge community.

[PavePusher]

No-one is asking to hunt in Harvard square. (The Second Amendment has never been about hunting.) We just to be able to defend ourselves from criminals. My self-defense weapon is not a "menace to society". And my carrying one does not cause you to give up any freedom. On the contrary, it makes us both more free.

Care to try again?

[emily2010]

The victim was *not* a student: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=528246

[nadin]

More proof, what we need is gun control!!!!
Oh wait, Mass has some fo the strictest gun control laws in the country.

[Leifrakur]

For 2005 and 2006 (the latest data available), Massachusetts had the next to lowest state firearm death rate, second only to Hawaii.

[JNagarya]

That's because the gun control laws WORK -- beginning with the mandatory year in jail for illegal possession of a firearm.

The guns which do show up in the hands of criminals in MA are got from states which sell guns willy nilly -- AND from the "gun show loophole". What's needed is FEDERAL legislation regulating the INTERSTATE sales of guns.