2 Harvard Students Reportedly Had Links to Victim and Alleged Gunman in Dorm Shooting

Two female Harvard University students knew both the victim and the accused gunman in a fatal shooting that took place last week in a Harvard dormitory, The Boston Globe reported, and one of the women has been barred from graduating next month, her lawyer told the newspaper.

The accused gunman, Jabrai Jordan Copney, of New York, has pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder in the shooting death last week of Justin Cosby in Harvard’s Kirkland House. Neither man was a Harvard student, but a Massachusetts prosecutor told reporters they were able to enter the dorm because one of the unidentified female students had given them an electronic-access card, the Globe reported. Neither of the two women has been charged in connection with the shooting, but the prosecutor said the investigation was continuing.

Jeffrey T. Karp, a lawyer for one of the women, told the Globe that his client was a resident of Kirkland House and had been kicked off the campus and barred from graduating. “This is a highly educated, independent young woman who has literally been cared for since she was a teenager by Harvard, and now they have terminated her right to be on campus,” Mr. Karp said. “There is no justification for it. She may have known the people involved, but you know, it’s not guilt by association in this country.”

A Harvard official said the university had “taken appropriate steps regarding the students involved” but declined to be more specific. —Charles Huckabee