A student at an upstate college was gunned down on a street just off campus by a man who had no affiliation with the school, cops and administrators said.
SUNY Potsdam music education student Elizabeth Howell, 21, died Friday after she was found lying on the side of College Park Road with gunshot wounds, New York State Police said.
Alleged shooter Michael J. Snow, 31, was arrested Saturday and slapped with a second degree murder charge, police said. Police had initially urged locals to keep their doors locked and travel in groups, before announcing the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Snow and Howell knew each other but the school said Snow had “no affiliation with the College, either as a student, employee or graduate.”
Howell, who is from Patterson in Putnam County, was scheduled to graduate this year, the school added.
SUNY Potsdam canceled classes for Monday and has also canceled or rescheduled various activities as the campus grieves Howell’s death. The concert hall at the school’s Crane School of Music has been designated as a memorial space for the campus, school officials said in a social media post.
“Beth was a cellist who performed with the Crane Symphony Orchestra, and she was an aspiring educator with a bright future ahead of her,” the post stated. “No words can express the sadness we share as a campus community following this tragic loss.”
Potsdam is in St. Lawrence County, 30 miles from the US border with Canada.
With Post wires