Grad Student Arrested For Murder

A Harvard graduate student was arrested for murder Saturday morning after he allegedly stabbed a teenager five times during an altercation outside a Cambridge pizza parlor.

Alexander Pring-Wilson, 25, was arrested Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at his home in Somerville for the murder of 18-year-old Michael Colono of Cambridge, according to Middlesex District Attorney spokesperon Emily LaGrassa.

Pring-Wilson is a graduate student at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.

At 1:50 a.m. Cambridge Police Department (CPD) officers responded to a report of a stabbing outside Pizza Ring, at the corner of Western Avenue and Howard Street—a short walk from Mather House.

Officers did not find a victim, but questioned Pring-Wilson at the scene, LaGrassa said.

Colono was admitted to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with multiple stab wounds to the upper body, and pronounced dead at 3:15 a.m.

According to LaGrassa, police discovered that friends’ description of Colono’s assailant matched that of Pring-Wilson.

Police tracked Pring-Wilson to his Somerville apartment and arrested him.

According to LaGrassa, the stabbing occurred when Pring-Wilson approached a car driven by the victim and two friends outside Pizza Ring.

LaGrassa said that after Colono got out of the car he and Pring-Wilson “had some kind of physical and verbal altercation.”

Pring-Wilson allegedly stabbed Colono several times during the fight.

Pring-Wilson’s attorney, Jeffrey Denner, said his client was acting in self-defense.

According to LaGrassa, Colono got back into the car and drove away, not realizing he had been stabbed until he experienced breathing difficulties.

Colono’s friends attempted to drive him to a hospital but got lost en route. When they stopped to ask for directions, a police officer noticed Colono and summoned an ambulance.

An autopsy today confirmed that Colono’s death was a homicide.

Denner said his client had been assaulted and had acted in “reasonable self defense.”

By Denner’s account, Pring-Wilson had gone to a Western Avenue nightclub earlier that evening and encountered Colono when he was walking home.

Denner said Pring-Wilson was attacked by Colono and another man, and pulled a knife to ward off the attackers.

“Many people carry pocket knives. He’s from Colorado,” Denner said.

Police searched Pring-Wilson’s apartment Saturday afternoon, but have not yet recovered a weapon.

Denner had no comment on what Pring-Wilson did with the knife.

Denner said Pring-Wilson is “incredibly regretful someone lost their life” and “feels badly for the family and friends” of the victim.

Pring-Wilson has an “impeccable record,” Denner said, calling him “a lovely man.”

Neither Pring-Wilson nor Colono had criminal records and it was unclear whether the two knew each other or what they were arguing about, according to the District Attorney’s office.

“We don’t believe there was a prior relationship, but it’s obviously still early in the investigation,” LaGrassa said.

LaGrassa said Colono sustained four stab wounds to the torso and one to the arm.

“One of the wounds to the torso was the fatal wound,” she said.

Colono worked at a full-time job in Cambridge and had four brothers and sisters, his sister Wanda Rivera told the Associated Press.

Rivera could not be reached for comment, nor could Davis Center officials.

Pring-Wilson was a masters student there, and had received a fellowship in Serbo-Croatian studies for this year.

Pring-Wilson will be arraigned Monday morning at 9 a.m. at Cambridge District Court.

On Saturday afternoon, police were questioning residents in the area of the stabbing.

—Hera A. Abbasi contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Material from the Associated Press was used in the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.