UPDATE: 23-year-old student killed at NJIT frat IDed

NEWARK -- A man shot and killed in a fraternity house early Monday was an NJIT student, authorities said.

Rutgers University Police said in an email to students that the man was shot at an off-campus house. The Rutgers-Newark campus is just across the street from NJIT on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

The student was shot at about 3:22 a.m., Essex County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly said. The man was shot at a Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house on the 300 block of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, just north of the NJIT campus.

The man was pronounced dead at 5:02 a.m. at University Hospital, Fennelly said. He was later identified as Joseph Micalizzi, 23.

The student was killed in a robbery, NJIT president Joel Bloom said in a statement. There was no threat to the campus, he said.

The school is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading the successful prosecution of whomever killed the student.

"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," Bloom said.

A woman who lives down the street from the fraternity house told NJ Advance Media she was good friends with the slain student. The woman, who was visibly distraught and did not wish to be identified, said she was studying with the student into the early hours Monday before he left to go to a local convenience store.

The student's fraternity brothers told her a man followed the student back from the store and shot him in the fraternity house.

Paris Hall, a Rutgers-Newark student, lives a block away from the Tau Kappa Epsilon house during the school year. Hall, who is a member of the Alpha Phi Delta fraternity at Rutgers, said he and his fraternity brothers strive to keep drug activity out of their house.

He and his brothers discussed security concerns at the very beginning of the school year.

"The first thing we talked about was getting a new door and new cameras and then this happens," Hall said. "It's crazy."

Melvin Goldsmith, a student at Essex County Community College, just a few blocks east of the fraternity house, said he avoided taking night classes for safety reasons. He said he was shocked that the shooting had taken place so close to the colleges, "but it's in Newark."

Investigators were going in and out of the three-story brick fraternity house Monday morning.

Police have closed Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard between Central Avenue and New Street, Newark Police Capt. Derek Glenn said. Parts of Bleeker and Summit streets are also closed. Rutgers University-Newark issued a statement saying the closures would last until 10 a.m.

Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.