NEWARK — The two men charged with killing a 23-year-old college student in a botched robbery at his fraternity house in May are moving closer to trial after an Essex County grand jury handed up indictments in the case.

Nafee Cotman, 19, of Irvington, and Taquan Harris, 22, of Newark, were charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, burglary, unlawful possession of a handgun and possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose in the killing of Toms River resident Joseph Micalizzi.

Micalizzi was shot May 2 at the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the city's University Heights. Police say Micalizzi was fighting off the suspects, who were attempting to burglarize the house.

Micalizzi, a 2011 graduate of Howell High School and Brookdale Community College, was a mechanical engineering major.

His death was the second fatal robbery of a city college student in the spring.

Rutgers-Newark student Shani Patel, 21, of Toms River, was killed in April. Marcus Feliz, 25, of Newark, and Fraynned Ramirez, 26, of Hartford, Connecticut, where charged with murder, robbery and felony murder.

Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-438-1015 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.

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