‘WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME’

Man Arrested in Fatal Shooting of SUNY Potsdam Senior Near Campus

It was not clear what relationship, if any, 21-year-old cellist Elizabeth Howell had to the man arrested for her murder.

A cellist majoring in music education at SUNY Potsdam was shot to death just off her rural college campus on Friday, according to New York State Police. Elizabeth Howell, 21, was found lying unconscious on the side of a road with multiple gunshot wounds. She was transported to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead. Police arrested Michael J. Snow, 31, on Saturday afternoon and charged him with second-degree murder in relation to Howell’s death. It was not immediately clear what relationship he might have had to Howell, if any, but SUNY Potsdam released a statement saying he was not affiliated with the university. Her father told the New York Post that Snow had likely targeted Howell at random, saying, “As soon as they told us, we figured: wrong place, wrong time.” Howell’s mother explained to the New York Daily News that the 21-year-old had been walking home from classes when she was attacked, taking her usual path to her off-campus apartment “right out that back door of the school.” Howell, who regularly performed with the Crane Symphony Orchestra, had been set to graduate this year. She wanted to be a teacher, according to a statement released by her school.