In the early hours of the morning on May 2nd, 2016, the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house at the New Jersey Institute of Technology was quiet and calm. It was early Monday morning, so most of the young men in the fraternity house were fast asleep.
Joseph Micalizzi was actually still awake and studying with his roommate at the time where they shared a room on the third floor.
Seemingly out of nowhere two intruders entered Joseph and his roommates bedroom and quickly, a struggle broke out between Joseph and one of the intruders. Joseph clearly was putting up as much of a fight as he could; however, the intruder fighting with Joseph actually pulled out a gun at this time and shot Joseph twice.
Joseph was shot in both the hand and in his head during the attack and sadly passed away very quickly afterwards.
This shooting truly shook the entire New Jersey Institute of Technology’s (NJIT) campus. After this burglary turned murder occurred, people and students were terrified that something like this could happen especially at a fraternity house on campus.
Joseph Micalizzi was a 23 year old man at the time of his death in 2016. Joseph, or Joe as many close to him referred to him as, was born and raised in Freehold Township, New Jersey.
During high school, Joseph was a very talented and passionate wrestler and also a member of the National Honor Society for his high academic achievements. Joseph graduated from high school in 2011 and went on to attend Brookdale Community College for a couple of years.
After attending community college for two years, Joseph decided to follow his passion and transfer to New Jersey Institute of Technology to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
In May of 2016, Joseph was enrolled at the college as a junior. He was also a proud member of the fraternity known as Tau Kappa Epsilon on campus. At the time of his death he was living inside of the fraternity house which was located on Martin Luther King Blvd.
Joseph had been flourishing ever since he transferred to New Jersey Institute of Technology. Not only did he make a lot of friends and find his fraternity, but he was also doing very well academically and consistently making the deans list. While in school, Joseph was also still a parishioner of St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church.
Joseph’s family and friends have since described him as being extremely loving, kind, passionate, and protective. Joseph’s parents, John and Frances, have said that growing up he was always acting a protector for his two sisters Christina and Gianna.
On May 2nd, 2016 it was approximately 3:15 a.m. when two intruders entered the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house on Martin Luther King Blvd. These intruders entered with the hopes to be able to steal cash or other valuable items from students living in the home.
It was supposed to be just a burglary, but that quickly changed when they were confronted by Joseph on the third floor of the fraternity house.
These two intruders were two men local to the area known as Nafee Cotman who was just 18 years old at the time of the crime, and Taquan Harris who was 21 years old.
This crime according to Nafee and Taquan was originally just supposed to be a burglary to make some extra money for themselves. However, they weren’t expecting to run into anyone still awake, and they definitely weren’t expecting them to put up a fight the way that Joseph did.
Ultimately police have determined that this crime wasn’t necessarily premeditated and both Nafee and Taquan didn’t enter the fraternity house that night with the intentions to murder anyone. However, after Joseph confronted them they chose to shoot him in a spur of the moment decision, and this was a decision that would change their lives forever.
After the shooting took place in the fraternity house around 3:15 a.m. that morning, the intruders, Taquan and Nafee, fled the scene quickly because they knew the gunshots would’ve woken up others inside of the home.
It only took police and investigators about four days to identify and arrest both of them in connection with Joseph’s tragic murder. Both men were arrested and brought down to the police station to be interviewed on May 6th, 2016.
When both men were first arrested they were both initially charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, burglary, and unlawful possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose. It appeared both young men were sticking together and not speaking much to police at all.
However, after some further investigation, police were able to find out that the handgun used to kill Joseph that night belonged to 21 year old Taquan Harris and only his fingerprints were on the weapon. Therefore in police’s eyes Taquan was the one who was actually responsible for the murder of Joseph, while Nafee was only guilty of the burglary and fleeing the scene.
Police began looking more into the background of both Taquan and Nafee to see if they could figure out what may have pushed these men to commit such a heinous crime like this.
Police discovered that as a juvenile, Nafee had ten separate cases and he had been arrested 5 times as an adult but never actually convicted of any adult crimes at that point. Taquan had one conviction as a juvenile that placed him in a diversionary program, and he had been arrested six times as an adult but again had no adult convictions at that point.
There’s not much information about Taquan and Nafee’s upbringings available to the public, but we do know that both individually struggled with poverty and violence in their younger years.
While being held in jail awaiting sentencing, Taquan’s younger brother, Keywon Savage, who was just 20 years old at the time lost his life to gun violence in November of 2016. It was noted by police that Taquan took the news of his younger brother’s passing very hard and it may have been one of the main reasons he decided to later plead guilty to his crimes.
Both Taquan Harris and Nafee Cotman pled guilty to all charges against them in October of 2018. In exchange for both of their guilty pleas, Taquan was only now being charged with aggravated manslaughter and illegal possession of a weapon, and Nafee was being charged with one count of first-degree armed robbery.
After they both entered a guilty plea, the judge sentenced Taquan to 26 years in prison and Nafee to 12 years for his role in the fatal robbery that night.
Joseph Micalizzi’s family have remained fairly private after the perpetrators were charged and sent to prison.
However, Assistant Prosecutor, Eric Plant made a statement after sentencing saying that Joseph was “an extraordinary young man” evidenced by the fact that more than 1,400 people attended his wake.
He went on the say that Joseph Micalizzi “made an impact”.
The president of New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2016, Joel Bloom, also made a public statement regarding Joseph’s tragic murder and he said…
“This is a tragic time for the student’s family, friends and the entire NJIT campus and we extend our thoughts and prayers to all affected.”
Joseph Micalizzi was a very dedicated, smart, and brave young man. He was on the path to pursuing his dreams and aspirations with his future when all of that was taken from him in just one night.
Joseph’s friends and fraternity consistently post to this day expressing their love for him and how much they miss having him around.
Joseph’s memory will live on within all of the people he knew and loved.
Sources:
Obituary of Joseph Micalizzi. Clayton & McGirr Funeral Home. (2016).