Police found a note "written by the suspect" at the scene, the chief said.
Female student at Rice University killed in dorm room on first day of classes
A female student at Texas' Rice University was shot and killed on Monday by a man authorities said she had been in a "dating relationship" with.
University police responded to a request for a welfare check around 4:30 p.m. local time and found the student, who was identified as Andrea Rodriguez Avila, deceased in her room. Police also discovered an "unidentified male with a self-inflicted … gunshot wound, who was not a member of the Rice community," school president Reginald DesRoches told the media.
Chief of Police for Rice, Clemente Rodriguez, confirmed police found a note "written by the suspect" at the scene, leading to their belief that the male shot Avila.
"In general terms, it was a lot about their relationship, and then obviously they were having a troubled relationship at this time," he said of the note, adding that officials believe it was a "dating relationship."
DesRoches said the "Rice campus is safe, and there is no immediate threat” to the community.
"And tonight, we will wrap our arms around our students," he added.
tekjunky75 on August 27th, 2024 at 18:43 UTC »
Why oh why don’t they skip the first horrific steps and go straight to suicide
jxj24 on August 27th, 2024 at 18:25 UTC »
Flashing back to college when a very similar thing happened. This woman was being stalked by a guy who was fixated on her, and she wanted nothing to do with him. He was ten years older than her, and regularly drove several hours from their home town to harass her.
He got into her dorm because someone held the door for him, and he killed her and her roommate (who had been running interference for her whenever he tried calling) and then fled in his car. When he was intercepted by the police he shot himself, but not fatally.
It's been many years since these murders, but I still remember how absolutely devastated I, and most of the people I know, were, even though none of us knew these women. To simply be living your day, going to class, spending the evening studying, and then being held hostage and then murdered. The only positive note to this awful story was that he had originally held several more people hostage, but she managed to convince him to let them go.
Edit: Found an account of the murders, published several years later, on the occasion when 32 people were murdered at Virginia tech in 2007.
Now I'm also remembering a shooting on the campus where I went to grad school. I was out of town that week, and saw it on the TV and immediate recognized the building where it occurred.
Necessary_Chip9934 on August 27th, 2024 at 17:27 UTC »
My heart breaks for her family. Devastating situation.