New main points emerge about scholar gunned down at Rice College

This tale discusses suicide. If you happen to or somebody you already know is having ideas of suicide, please touch the Suicide & Disaster Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

New main points have emerged concerning the Rice College scholar who was once gunned down in an obvious murder-suicide that rocked the elite Houston faculty at the first day of categories.

Andrea Rodriguez Avila, 21, was once a junior political science and pre-law main from Nottingham, Maryland. She had simply transferred to Rice in spring 2024 from the Neighborhood School of Baltimore County, Fox Information Virtual has discovered.

An completed scholar, Avila was once deputy parliamentarian of the Rice Scholar Affiliation, a peer educational guide at her residential corridor – Jones School – and a member of the college’s Honor Council. 

A spokesperson for the college showed that Avila’s circle of relatives arrived in Houston on Tuesday morning – an afternoon after the tragedy. 

WOMAN IN US ILLEGALLY ALLEGEDLY DUMPS NEWBORN IN HOUSTON DUMPSTER, CLAIMS SHE HAD ‘NO CHOICE’

“[Avila’s family] is receiving reinforce from the college’s management group right through this profoundly difficult time. They’ve asked privateness as they mourn their loss however are deeply appreciative of the outpouring of ideas and prayers from the neighborhood,” a college spokesperson mentioned in a commentary shared with Fox Information Virtual. 

Avila was once discovered lifeless in her dorm room Monday when college police performed a welfare test. Circle of relatives had expressed fear that they had been not able to get in contact along with her. 

A person, who was once now not a scholar on the college, was once additionally discovered lifeless within the room with an obvious self-inflicted gunshot wound, police mentioned.

Houston police have now not but launched the identification of the suspected shooter, however say he’s a 22-year-old believed to be from Florida. The discharge of his identification is pending verification through the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Rice College Police Leader Clemente Rodriguez showed Avila and the person had been in a “relationship courting.”

TODDLERS IN DIAPERS STRANDED ON HIGHWAY AFTER BEING EJECTED DURING CRASH: VIDEO

An ambulance on scene at Rice College in Houston.   (FOX 26 Houston)

A word left on the scene indicated that the pair had been keen on a “afflicted courting,” police mentioned.

The heartbreaking crime has rocked the Rice neighborhood on what must were a thrilling begin to the autumn semester. 

Rice College President Reginald DesRoches mentioned the campus has been “shaken to its core” on an afternoon that are meant to were stuffed with “promise and new beginnings.”

FILE- An obvious murder-suicide at the first day of categories has shaken the Rice College campus “to its core,” the college’s president Reginald DesRoches mentioned. (Brandon Bell/Getty Pictures)

“The ache we really feel on campus this night is immeasurable, and I do know that phrases can’t totally seize the sorrow and grief that lots of you’ll be experiencing. I beg you to lean on each and every different, to supply reinforce and compassion, and to understand that we’re all joined in our grief and care,” DesRoches wrote in a message at the faculty’s web page. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Categories had been canceled on the faculty on Tuesday.

Rice is a small faculty with most effective about 8,500 scholars. Tuition is set $60,000 a yr.