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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Senior found dead in West Hall

A GW police car was parked outside West Hall on Tuesday afternoon. Cameron Lancaster | Assistant Photo Editor
A GW police car was parked outside West Hall on Tuesday afternoon. Cameron Lancaster | Assistant Photo Editor
Multiple police cars were parked outside West Hall on Tuesday afternoon. Cameron Lancaster | Assistant Photo Editor
Multiple police cars remained parked outside West Hall until about 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Cameron Lancaster | Assistant Photo Editor

Updated: Wednesday, April 2 at 10:04 a.m.

A senior was found dead in West Hall early Tuesday morning, University officials have confirmed.

Campus police found the female student around 7:30 a.m. in her fourth-floor room, which is in the largest residence hall on the Mount Vernon Campus.

Police have not found evidence of criminal behavior and are not investigating the death as a homicide. The student’s mother had called the University Police Department after not hearing from her daughter, MPD spokesman Araz Alali said. Officers then found her unresponsive in her room.

In a message to the community, University President Steven Knapp said the student was a chemistry major in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. She had been enrolled at GW since 2010. Her family has asked GW not to release her name at this time.

“In the aftermath of this tragic loss, I urge all of us to take care of ourselves and look out for one another,” Knapp wrote in the message, which was sent by email Tuesday around 7:50 p.m.

Police also responded to a medical emergency on the second floor of West Hall, in which a male student was rushed to a nearby hospital around 1 p.m.

That student was found “lying on floor in an unconscious state” and rushed to a local hospital, Alali said. He said the injury was “substantial,” but could not provide additional details. University spokeswoman Candace Smith said she could not comment on that student’s condition.

Multiple officers, including investigators, remained in West Hall until about 4:30 p.m. An ambulance, medic and firetruck left the campus around 1:45 p.m.

Multiple police officials on the scene declined to comment.

Students can speak with University counselors in West Hall on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. Members of the community may also contact the University Counseling Center at 202-994-5300.

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