LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A 22-year-old University of Kentucky student was shot and killed a block from the Lexington campus Friday morning in what police believe was a random robbery gone awry.
Jonathan W. Krueger, a junior communications major and photo editor at the school newspaper, was shot in the chest about 2 a.m. while walking home from a party.
Two Lexington men were arrested Friday. Justin D. Smith, 18, and Efrain Diaz, 20, were charged with murder and robbery. Smith was also charged with tampering with evidence and evading police.
“This feels like a nightmare; it feels like everything has gone wrong,” said Adam Pennavaria, Krueger’s friend and colleague on the school newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel. “He is the last person I would have ever thought something like this would happen to.”
Krueger was walking home from a party with another man near Transylvania Park, about a block from campus. The man told police a minivan pulled up and confronted them. He said he managed to flee, found two men nearby and contacted authorities.
Lexington police found Krueger in the street, suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at the hospital a half-hour later.
“He was an easy friend,” said Chris Poore, student adviser for the university’s newspaper. “He was comfortable with everybody, and people felt comfortable with him. He looked you in the eye. It made him a better photographer.”
Pennavaria said he knows of no connection between his friend and Smith. He’s never seen Smith or heard his name.
“It makes the least amount of sense of anything I can imagine,” he said.
Krueger, an avid cyclist, grew up in Perrysburg, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo. His family owns a greenhouse that grows poinsettias and other flowers, Poore said. He was proud of his family’s work; he showed off pictures of their flowers and farm.
His grandfather, Walter Krueger Sr., said Friday that the family is devastated and asked for privacy.
University President Eli Capilouto sent a note to students and staff Friday morning.
“Although this tragedy occurred off-campus, it is a stark reminder that all members of our campus community should at all times be vigilant about their safety and the safety of others. We are each other’s keeper,” Capilouto wrote. “It is also in a moment like this that we are reminded of how fragile and precious life is.”
