Evening star., 1949-11-12
Ohio State i. Senior
Slain by Fraternity
Brother After Party
BY The Assoeiofsd Press

BY The Associated Press
COLUMBUS. Ohio, Nov. 12.-An
Ohio State University student was
shot to death by a fraternity
brother early today after a home
coming party at the Delta Tau
Delta fraternity house.
The victim was Jack T. Nc
Keown, 81, Of Norwood, a senior
and managing editor Of the Ohio
State Lantern, student daily. Nor
wood Is suburb Of Cincinnati.
James D. Heer. 20, Of Euclid, a
f1rst-year veterinary student, was
taken into custody at the Colun-
bus sewage disposal plant. s miles
from the fraternity house. Euclid
is near Cleveland.
Detective Kenneth Anderson
said Heer admitted the shooting.
The officer quoted the student:
Whenever I get drunk. I get
trigger-happy.'"
Tried to Disarm Man.
McKeown was shot once with
.45-caliber automatic pistol as he
tried to disarm Heer on the fra
ternity house lawn at 2:30 am,
fraternity men said.
Fraternity brothers said Heer
went berserk" after accompany
ing a young woman home from
the party. They gave this account
of Heer's actions:
He took the pistol from the
room of fraternity brother and
ran to the lawn. AS other STU
dents tried to pacify him. he
warned them to leave him alone.
McKeown then tried to quiet
the student.
II showed him away and told
him I'd shoot him If he didn't stay
away" Heer related later.
One shot was fred and Nc
Keown fell. Heer then fired an
other shot and fed.
Tried to Surrender Gun.
He hailed a taxicab and in
structed the driver to take him
to police headquarters. But en-
route he left the cab and thumbed
a ride to the vicinity of the dis
posal plant. !
Heer walked to the plant ofdce,
knocked on the door and extended
his pistol, butt first, to the care
taker. The caretaker refused to
take the gun. Heer then tele-
phoned the State highway patrol.
Patrolman Harry Kellenberger
said the student announced:
"I'm Jim Heer. I just killed .
man on 18th avenue. Bring Q
tommy gun down with you. I'm
going to run. want to get it
over with"
The highway patrolman noti-
fed police, and IA patrolmen sped
to the scene.
Heer. in a darkened room, was
ordered to come out with his
hands up. The youth obeyed and
was disarmed.
At police headquarters the tux
edo-attired Heer asserted he was
intoxicated when the shooting
occurred. Detective Anderson said,
He related he was honorably
discharged from the Marine Corps
in 1948.
Companion Held ~ Witness. -,
Joyce Grafton. az. Of Cleveland,
Hers companion during the eve
ming, was taken into custody as
a material witness. She is not
a university student. She had
come here especially for the
Homecoming celebration. A fra
ternity member said she and Heer
had argued during the evening.
Eight fraternity brothers were
ordered into police headquarters,
but were not booked. They were
instructed to return to the fra
ternity house and not leave until
police obtained statements from
them.
McKeown. a popular man on
the Ohio State campus, was the
son of Mr.. and Mrs. Frank Nc
Keown of Norwood. He would
have graduated in June, 1850.
He also wrote for the Sun Dali,
campus humor magazine, and was
campus correspondent for the
Norwood News.
McKeown's father is an as
sembler at the Fisher body plant
in Norwood.
Heer is the only son of Mr.. and
Mrs. Samuel Heer of Euclid. He
served three years In the Ma
rines. The elder Heer is a war
- ID