Police charged a 21-year-old man with murder Tuesday in the stabbing death of a University of Connecticut football player outside a school-sanctioned dance, where the suspect’s lawyer says he was just trying to break up a fight.

John William Lomax III, 21, is scheduled to appear in court today on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit assault in the Oct. 18 death of Jasper Howard, police said in Storrs, Conn. His bond was set at $2 million.

Police also arrested two other people in connection with the fight that led to Howard’s death. Hakim Muhammad, 20, was charged with conspiracy to commit assault and Jamal Todd, 21, faces a felony charge of falsely reporting an incident and a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment for pulling a fire alarm that emptied the dance early that Sunday morning.

None of those arrested are UConn students.

From News and wire service reports.