Extra

Updated: Non-student, 20, Found Dead in UC Berkeley Frat House

Erin Baldassari (BCN)
Sunday November 09, 2014 - 06:48:00 PM

UPDATE: The Planet has received this email from Ofc. J. Coats of the Berkeley Police Department:

On Sunday, November 9, 2014 at approximately 12:09 p.m. BPD responded to 2728 Bancroft Way, (Zeta Psi Fraternity) for a welfare check on an unresponsive male. BPD and Berkeley Fire personnel arrived within minutes and discovered a 20 year old male, identified as Vaibhev Loomba, deceased. The Homicide Detail was contacted and this incident is still under investigation. The victim was not a resident of the fraternity or a UC Berkeley student.

We are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to contact the Berkeley Police Department’s Homicide Detail at 510-981-5741.




Police are investigating the death of a 20-year-old man at a fraternity house near the University of California at Berkeley campus early this morning. 

Police said they responded to a report of an unresponsive man at 12:09 a.m. at 2728 Bancroft Way. The address is listed as the home of the Zeta Psi fraternity on Facebook, just outside of the Berkeley campus. 

Lt. Ed Spiller said they found the man unresponsive, and he was declared dead at the scene. The man is not a UC Berkeley student, and Spiller said he does not live at the house. 

The death is currently classified as "suspicious," and Spiller said homicide detectives are investigating the incident. 

"We're erring on the side of caution," Spiller said of the classification. He said police haven't ruled out drugs or alcohol as possible factors in the man's death. 

Spiller said they were not able to say how long the man had been dead before police arrived. 

There have been no formal citations issued to the fraternity for parties at the house, but Spiller said Berkeley police have responded to the location in the past. 

The man's body was transferred to the Alameda County Coroner's office, which will release the man's identity once next of kin have been notified, Spiller said. 

 

 

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