Body found near Boelter Hall, officials investigating

This article was updated at 9:09 p.m.

The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.

University police are investigating the death of an unidentified man who reportedly fell from Boelter Hall in South Campus this afternoon, according to university officials.

It is unclear whether the man was affiliated with UCLA, said university spokesman Phil Hampton. The man is believed to be between 25 and 35 years old, according to  a university statement.

There is no indication of foul play, Hampton said. The man appears to have fallen from the building but the precise circumstances of the incident have not been determined, he said.

Police were notified of the body, which was found near the stairs between the California NanoSystems Institute and Boelter Hall, by a call at about 4:15 p.m., according to the university statement.

At around 4:20 p.m., certain parts of Boelter were blocked off to student access, while police investigated the scene.

Several UCLA students said they saw the body near the exit of Boelter while walking out of the building from an exam. Students were sitting in the courtyard on the ground floor of Boelter when they heard sirens and saw flashing lights.

“There was a small crowd forming (in front of the building),” said Jessica Soltanich, a fourth-year chemical engineering student. “They were looking at the guy lying on the ground.”

Gonzalo Cortes, a doctoral student whose office is in Boelter Hall, said he arrived near the scene when responders were performing CPR on the man. In his office later, Cortes  said the responders continued CPR for another several minutes, and then stopped.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office arrived on the scene and took the body away at about 7:15 p.m.

In 2007, a 19-year-old man, the son of a UCLA graduate student, committed suicide by jumping off a Boyer Hall balcony.

Compiled by Naheed Rajwani and Yael Levin, Bruin senior staff. Contributing reports from Erin Donnelly and Jillian Beck, Bruin senior staff.

Correction: As of 5:55 p.m., the body had not been removed.

Read more here: http://dailybruin.com/2013/05/21/breaking-police-investigating-death-of-man-by-boelter-hall/
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