(Updated) Police probe death of Boston University student
Credit: Boston University
Questions remain in the death of a Boston University student who was found unconscious in an Allston apartment last weekend.
Boston police detectives are investigating the death of the freshman who was found inside the Allston home late Friday night.
Police said they were called to 22 Wadsworth St., just before midnight for a report of an unconscious man. When officers arrived they found the 19-year-old student unconscious inside the apartment. He was taken to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center where he later died, police said.
Boston University identified the student as Anthony Barksdale II. Barksdale, a freshman in the university’s College of Engineering, lived on campus at the Towers residence on Bay State Road, according to BU Today, a university website. Police and the university did not say why Barksdale was at the Allston house Friday night.
Boston police said homicide detectives were investigating, but that there were not visible signs of trauma or injuries on Barksdale. BU police believe there is no indication of foul play, according to BU Today. A cause of death is still being determined.
Barksdale graduated last year from Souhegan High School in Amherst, N.H., where he earned the Coach’s Award for varsity basketball, a U.S. Marine Corps Scholastic Excellence Award and a Humanities Award, according to BU. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu, the university said.
“Whenever there is a death of one of our own it affects all of us. Our entire community is deeply saddened. I hope that students will look out for each other. I hope they will use the resources that are available here, and I hope they reach out to friends, parents, and loved ones,” Kenneth Elmore, the school’s dean of students said in a statement on BU Today.
A pair of Boston police cruisers were parked near the apartment Sunday as officers kept watch on the building.
Anne Fcuitema, a BU junior who lives about two doors away from the Allston apartment, said she had gone to bed late Friday when police were called, but could hear a party coming from the building. She said the building is known as a hang out for fraternity members.
“It’s really, really sad,” she said.
The weekend death occurred in an Allston neighborhood that neighbors said is no stranger to weekend parties. On Sunday, a few young people walked along the street, which was littered with broken glass and crushed red and blue plastic cups.
One neighbor who lives across the street from the Allston apartment and did not want to give her name, said the parties last all year.
“This is a party area,” she said.
Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.
