Police Investigate Murder Of UMES Student
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. (WJZ) -- Shock and disbelief on the Eastern Shore. A promising college student is killed right in front of his friends and brother.
Derek Valcourt has the emotional reaction.
"Just like that he's gone," said Rhoda Boateng.
Rhoda Boateng grieves over the death of her boyfriend of nearly four years--21-year-old Edmond Aaron St. Clair. Murdered this weekend at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, the loss is especially painful because Boateng is eight months pregnant with St. Clair's baby girl.
"That's all I care about is his baby that he created. You know what it feels like to have to tell a baby that your father is gone because of careless behavior, because of nonsense?" Boateng said.
It happened around 9:30 p.m. Saturday night as St. Clair's cousin and younger brother came to visit him at school during the university's homecoming weekend.
"He died in my arms, man," said Isiah St. Clair.
Isiah St. Clair says as the three of them drove across campus to get food, they encountered a group of at least three other men in the street.
"I tried to tell them 'get out of the middle of the street' and after they started like talking all this other stuff and then my brother, like when he see danger about to happen, he put himself, like he made sure we safe so he went out," he said.
Edmond St. Clair was stabbed in the chest. Police are now looking for the killers.
"Investigators do not believe this was a random act. They believe this was something that occurred between the suspects and this individual, the victim. Specifically it was not a random act," said Greg Shipley, Maryland State Police.
St. Clair recorded music under the name "Trini Wes," and friends say his popularity on the Eastern Shore made him a target for jealously.
His girlfriend says though he liked to party, beneath his tough exterior was a brilliant mind with a 3.8 grade point average who one day planned to become a doctor. Now his family wants justice as they prepare for a future without him.
"Edmond did not just leave anything, he left his baby girl who will grow up and know how great her father was," Boateng said.
Police describe the suspects as three young African-American males in their late teens or early 20s.
Anyone with information on the case is urged to contact the Maryland State Police Princess Anne Barracks. You can remain anonymous.
