A week and a half ago Alexander Pring-Wilson had plans to earn a Harvard degree, attend law school in Colorado and live within a half-day’s drive of his family.
Now, as the 25-year-old Harvard graduate student awaits trial for murder, those close to him continue to wonder what went wrong.
While the details surrounding the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Cambridge resident Michael Colono remain under dispute, those close to Pring-Wilson say the “Sander” they know is no murderer.
He’s accomplished, well-liked, a “humanitarian” and incredibly driven.
And he’s strong-willed—known to stand up for himself on the field and in the classroom.
Attorney Jeffrey Denner says that’s exactly what Pring-Wilson was doing on the morning of April 12, when he says his client stabbed Colono five times in self-defense.
Pring-Wilson, a graduate student at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, was walking alone along Western Avenue after a night out drinking when he neared an idling car where Colono, his cousin and a woman sat. According to Denner, Pring-Wilson overheard Colono comment on his “staggering” gait, and took offense.
Pring-Wilson approached the car and the two began to argue, Denner says.
Denner argued at Pring-Wilson’s bail hearing last week that his client was being attacked by Colono and Colono’s cousin when he used his pocket-knife to stab Colono.
Assistant District Attorney Adrienne Lynch described Pring-Wilson as an aggressor who opened the door to the car and began stabbing Colono almost immediately.
Colono, who suffered four stab wounds to the torso, died later that morning at Beth Israel Deaconness Hospital.
While those who know Pring-Wilson can’t believe that he would ever resort to violence, some say he would be unlikely to back down if challenged.
“I can imagine Sander would respond negatively if he were insulted and he’d had too much to drink,” says Marcia Dobson, chair of the Classics Department at Colorado College, where Pring-Wilson spent his undergraduate years. “I can imagine he would say, ‘I’m not going to take that from this guy.’”
Full of Determination
Friends and family say that this brand of determination has marked Pring-Wilson’s personality all his life.
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