Man sentenced to year in prison for shooting death of VCU student
Vigil attendees shared about Kwarteng's "hard-working," "selfless" and "talented" characteristics, among others. Photo by Julie Tripp.
A Richmond man was sentenced to a year in prison after killing VCU student Samuel Kwarteng in April.
Emmanuel E. Jordan, 20, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in August and given the sentence last Monday, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Jordan shot and killed the Alexandria native outside a home on the 1200 block of West Moore Street in what prosecutors said was an accidental killing after a dispute over drugs. Jordan lived at the house where the incident occured.
Kwarteng and Jordan never met before when Kwarteng accompanied a friend, who the Richmond City Circuit Court identified only as “Ish,” to Jordan’s home to retrieve $500 which Jordan owed Ish for marijuana, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Traci Miller said.
Jordan’s attorney, Judson Collier Jr., said Ish had been sending his client threatening messages in the month leading up to the killing on April 13. It’s why Jordan feared for his life when Ish showed up with Kwarteng at his house that morning, Collier said. Jordan loaded a .40 caliber gun and confronted the two by waving it around and telling them to leave.
The gun went off, killing Kwarteng, as Jordan was pushing the two out the door. Collier said Jordan never put his finger on the trigger and the killing was unintentional, but every action Jordan took in the immediate moments leading up to it was not.
The bullet struck Kwarteng’s back and he died on the front porch of the West Moore Street home. Jordan was arrested and charged with manslaughter shortly thereafter.
“Sam moved himself [off campus] so he could focus on school.” then-senior Micky Atakilt said at a vigil held at the Commons the following day. “That’s why he’s graduating at 20-years-old, but there hasn’t been enough focus on who he was as a person in the media.”
Kwarteng was a member of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and was set to graduate a year early in May 2018 with a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Pi Kappa Phi members recently reached out to the School of Engineering to memorialize Kwarteng by installing a new whiteboard and plaque in the computer lab Kwarteng spent a lot of time studying in, according to a Facebook event created by the fraternity’s leaders. In addition, on Oct. 2 they placed a banner for students to sign in the Compass.
A GoFundMe page was created in April to help Kwarteng’s family pay for funeral expenses raised more than $23,000, exceeding its $15,000 goal.
Fadel Allassan
Contributing Writer
