Friends, Neighbors Remember Cosby’s 'Strong' Presence

When Denise Cosby saw reports of a shooting on the Harvard campus headlining the evening news on Monday, she had no idea the victim was her son.

It was only when one of his friends phoned her from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center that she realized Justin Cosby was not in the next room.

Cosby, who suffered a bullet wound to the abdomen after a shooting in Kirkland House’s J-entryway, was declared to be in stable condition around 7 p.m. He died just eight hours later, with his mother at his side. He was 21.

“This is a shock to my entire family and all my friends,” Cosby’s mother said. “No one can believe it.”

Cosby’s presence in Kirkland House on Monday remains a mystery, but in interviews with The Crimson yesterday, those who shared a floor with Cosby and his mother shed some light on the victim himself, painting a picture of a boy always willing to lend a hand, often offering to help his neighbors carry the groceries.

“He was a mama’s boy,” Denise Cosby said, adding that her son chose to live with her and commute to Salem State College 15 miles away, which he attended part-time until this spring.

Cosby, who had completed roughly three semesters’ worth of work, officially withdrew in April, school officials said yesterday. Although he had not declared his major, Cosby said that her son had shared his post-college plans of “going into computers and looking forward to a nice, comfortable life.”

Friends posting farewell messages on Cosby’s Facebook profile paid tribute to the amateur basketball player as a strong presence in their social circle who always had a smile on his face.

Lucas R. Toffoli ’09, a resident of Mather House, first met Cosby in kindergarten. The two quickly bonded during recess, and by second grade, they could often be seen running around the King Open School playground and “terrorizing” others by pretending to be Ninja Turtles scaling the jungle gym.

Though Toffoli acknowledged that he and Cosby drifted apart the following year, he said that he saw his fellow bright-eyed Ninja Turtle become a high school senior much respected within his circle of friends as the kind of person who would “really come through for you when you needed him.”

Usually sporting carefully assembled “rapper-inspired” outfits—baggy T-shirt, baggy jeans, stylish basketball shoes, and “some bling from time to time”—Cosby was somewhat of a leader in his group of friends, Toffoli said. Or at least, Toffoli added, he was someone everyone knew and looked up to.

Having known Cosby as a “well put together kid with his head on straight” who seemed to steer clear of “gang-like crowds,” Toffoli said the news of the shooting was all the more surprising.

A Pokemon card aficionado in his childhood who once amassed an entire book of the much hyped collectibles, Cosby later channeled his energies into playing basketball and maintaining his ’95 BMW.

“He was very proud of this car,” his mother recalled.

Cosby said that she had no idea why her son, who lives with her in a high rise apartment building in Cambridge, was in Harvard Square. The current investigation has yielded neither intent nor motive, and it is unclear at this point how Cosby gained access to the basement of Kirkland House, according to Gerard T. Leone, Jr. '85, District Attorney of Middlesex County.

Cosby also leaves behind his sister, Shenita, who flew in from Atlanta upon hearing the news, and his longtime girlfriend whom he met in college.

“He was a good, young person,” said a neighboring tenant who identified himself only as “Leroy B.” and said he often played basketball with Cosby. “I hope justice is coming the right way.”

—Staff writer Athena Y. Jiang can be reached at ajiang@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer June Q. Wu can be reached at junewu@fas.harvard.edu.