A Rice University student was found shot to death in her dorm room on the first day of classes in what police are calling a murder-suicide. Authorities were dispatched to Jones College residential hall on Monday (August 26) after the family of Andrea Rodriguez Avila requested a welfare check.
When officers entered her dorm room, they found her body with a gunshot wound. They also found the body of a man who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators said the man left a note behind detailing his “troubled relationship” with Avila.
“In general terms, it was a lot about their relationship, and obviously, they were having a troubled relationship at this time,” Clemente Rodriguez, with the Rice University police, said.
The school was briefly placed on lockdown once the body was discovered. After the lockdown was lifted, school officials decided to cancel classes for the remainder of the day and on Tuesday.
“It is with deep sadness and shock that I write to you on what should have been a day filled with promise and new beginnings. Instead, we find ourselves mourning the loss of one of our own in a tragic event that has shaken our campus to its core,” university President Reginald DesRoches said in a statement. “This is a heartbreaking, devastating incident, and it is important to recognize that this loss will affect our close-knit community in the days and weeks ahead.”
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