Affidavit: Fight over comments about woman led to UConn football player’s stabbing death

Affidavit: Remarks on woman led to UConn killing

VERNON, Conn. — An arrest warrant affidavit says the fight that led to the stabbing death of University of Connecticut football player Jasper Howard began when one of his teammates “disrespected” a woman at a school-sponsored dance.

The affidavit released Tuesday accuses a 21-year-old Bloomfield man, John Lomax, of murder in the Oct. 18 killing of Howard. The document includes an array of witness statements about the encounter.

Howard’s teammate, Michael Smith, told investigators that Howard threw a punch at a man matching Lomax’s description before he was stabbed.

The affidavit also says Johnny Hood, one of six men charged in the case, told police that the fight began when another man, later identified as football player Brian Parker, made comments about a woman at the dance.