UMass Dartmouth football player Marvins Antoine stabbed dead in Providence

Freshman running back Marvins Antoine, 18, was killed in a stabbing outside a Providence nightclub. Fellow student Chukuwnonoso Uzoma Eze, 19, has been charged with murder.

UMass Dartmouth footballer killed in Providence nightclub stabbing

A University of Massachusetts Dartmouth football player was stabbed to death in Providence, Rhode Island, in the early hours of Saturday morning, abc7chicago.com reports. A second player was also wounded in the attack.

Freshman running back Marvins Antoine, 18, and several teammates had attended the Mezzo Lounge nightclub in Providence on Friday night, hours after the team lost a home game to Framingham State. Around midnight, an altercation broke out inside the venue. The confrontation then spilled across the street to the car park of a nearby Wendy's restaurant, where two players were stabbed.

Antoine was transported to Rhode Island Hospital, where he died from stab wounds to the chest. A second player, 19-year-old freshman defensive back Kensley Macean, was also taken to hospital with injuries to his head, neck and left arm, which police described as non-life-threatening.

Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez, speaking at a press conference Saturday afternoon, said another UMass Dartmouth student — Chukuwnonoso Uzoma Eze, 19 — had been arrested on campus and was being held by university police pending transfer to Rhode Island to face a murder charge. Perez confirmed that Eze is not a member of the football team.

"There was an altercation between a female and some of the victims that were in line," Perez said. "And then the altercation moved over to the parking lot of the Wendy's, but we have no indication that they knew each other."

Investigators used Flock camera footage from the area to identify the vehicle in which Eze fled the scene, which ultimately led them to the suspect on campus. UMass Dartmouth is located approximately 30 miles southeast of Providence.

UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Mark Fuller issued a statement expressing condolences to Antoine's family and teammates. "Our hearts and prayers are very much with Marvins' family, friends, classmates, and teammates as we mourn his loss together," Fuller said. "We also send our prayers and best wishes for Kensley's recovery, and hope that he will be able to resume his education here soon."

According to the university, Antoine had graduated from Durfee High School in Fall River, Massachusetts. Former high school teammate Orlando Delgado described him as a role model who dreamed of reaching the NFL.

"He always wanted to say how he wanted to be in the NFL. He always wanted to either have me and him be on the same team or me and him play against each other and go touchdown for touchdown," Delgado told WBZ-TV. "He was super loyal. He was an example setter. He was just always a good person to be around."

Delgado's mother, Ashania Chambers, also spoke to WBZ-TV. "He was a peacemaker. So to hear about a situation like this it's very devastating. It's hurtful. This is a sad situation because he's not that type of child," she said.

Former teammate Xavier Gracia added: "He was just a good person all around. He was like an older brother to everybody, to all of us, like my friends, and just everybody in the grade."

Investigators said they are continuing to look into the events that led up to the stabbing.

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)