KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO) — 20-year-old Western Michigan University basketball player, Joeviair Kennedy, has been formally charged with murder while the search continues for his alleged accomplice.
He has since been dropped from the team roster.
Kennedy has no previous criminal history. He now faces the possibility of life in prison for allegedly being involved in a drug related robbery that turned deadly last Thursday.
He was a star athlete in Muskegon, recruited to play at Western Michigan and seemed to have a promising future.
Detectives say two men wearing bandanas entered the fourth floor apartment of 19-year-old WMU Student Jacob Jones last Thursday night, primarily looking for marijuana but demanding money, cell phones and whatever else they could steal.
Apparently Kennedy’s phone was found on the floor of the apartment after the two robbers quickly fled after the shooting. That’s why he was taken into custody soon after.
Kennedy had reportedly been evicted from the apartment complex a few weeks before.
He has been ordered held without bond, after he was charged with open murder, armed robbery and two gun felonies.