Joeviair Kennedy, a redshirt freshman on Western Michigan's basketball team, has been charged with murder following the fatal shooting of a fellow student in off-campus housing last Thursday. On Friday, Kennedy was named a person of interest in what was initially believed to be a drug deal gone wrong and was subsequently suspended from the team. Prosecutors are now charging the 20-year-old with the murder of 19-year-old Jacob Jones and the armed robbery of a phone and some cash.Police responded to report of a man being shot in the Soho apartment complex west of campus at around 10:30 p.m. Thursday night.Witnesses told authorities that two men ran from the scene. Authorities believe they left the area in a vehicle that was parked nearby."That's all I heard, gun shot and a 'herd' of people," said Jackie Jener, a junior at WMU who lives a few floors below the victim.Following the shot being fired, she and a roommate heard people running down the stairs. Through the peephole they saw two males.WMU's head coach, Steve Hawkins, called the murder a "devastating loss for our university…for everybody involved and lives were changed forever. So, we're very, very respectful of that, we're very shook by the whole thing."Prior to his suspension, Kennedy appeared in all eight games this season, averaging seven minutes per game.
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