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Two Are Charged In Murder Of UMKC Student

A bond of half a million dollars is holding each of two men charged today in the murder of a University of Missouri-Kansas City  student at a near-campus house just south of  Country Club Plaza. 

Allegations point to a robbery gone awry.

20-year-old Alonzo Ruff and 21-year-old Anthony Williams were looking for a place to rob March 21st, according to court documents. 

They allegedly picked the house near 49th and Brookside Boulevard because one of the men charged had once smoked marijuana there.

After robbing occupants, Ruff is alleged to have fired five shots from a 9-millimeter pistol at people sitting on a couch where they had been herded during the holdup.

Three were wounded and lived. Aaron Markarian died.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker wouldn’t speculate on the police supposition that shots were fired because one suspect thought he’d been recognized by a victim who had been a school classmate.  

In Baker’s words, "crime, even when it’s a planned robbery, is usually planned very poorly, and it’s usually carried out even (more) poorly than the poor plan they had in place.”

The man killed, Markarian, was considered a talented and promising voice student at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance.     

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