A first-year Queen’s student was found dead yesterday morning in the parking lot behind Victoria Hall residence. The name of the student has not yet been released.
Kingston Police spokesperson Constable Mike Menor said the police responded to a call early yesterday morning.
“I was under the impression it was shortly after 7 a.m.,” he said.
Police arrived on scene and taped off the area. They were still on site as of mid-morning.
An investigation into the student’s death is underway. Menor said the focus yesterday was to notify the family of the deceased student.
“We haven’t determined the cause. Our detectives are still investigating,” he said. “It’s a terribly tragic incident.”
Jean Kaladeen, ArtSci ’88, is the mother of two Queen’s students, one of whom is a first-year student in Victoria Hall. Kaladeen heard about the incident yesterday from her son, a third-year Queen’s student.
She said after phoning Residence Life, she was told to look on the Queen’s website for any updates, but no details had been released. Rumours have been circulating around the Queen’s community regarding the cause of death.
Kaladeen said she was upset with the lack of information she had been provided with.
“My daughter is only 17-years old. Parents will want to know that their kids are in a secure location,” she said. “Nobody is telling us anything; it’s very unsettling.”
Kaladeen said Victoria Hall is known for being quite easy to access by non-residents, and that she has heard of many security-related incidents taking place in the building.
Campus Security issued two security alerts in late August involving a suspicious male sleeping in unlocked residence rooms inside Victoria Hall.
“There are kids that won’t be sleeping at night because of this,” she said.
“If homicide hasn’t been ruled out, they should be treating it as a homicide,” Kaladeen said. “There should be measures taken immediately to ensure that it won’t happen again soon.”
Students can report suspicious incidents to the Emergency Report Centre at 613-533-6111.
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