A student from Purdue University in Indiana was arrested Wednesday morning after being charged with the murder of his roommate, in what officials and local authorities are calling an “unprovoked and senseless” attack.
Ji Min Sha, a 22-year-old cybersecurity major, had alerted authorities of the death of his roommate, 20-year-old data science major Varun Manish Chheda, and reportedly turned himself in for the alleged murder, according to the New York Daily News.
Chheda, a resident of Indianapolis, was found dead in his dormitory room at the McCutcheon residence hall in the university by authorities. Later on, Sha, who is originally from Seoul, South Korea, was taken into custody by authorities, USA Today reported.
While a final autopsy is still underway, an initial report shows that Chheda suffered from “multiple sharp-force traumatic injuries,” with his death ultimately being ruled as a homicide. Despite this, authorities have been having a hard time ascribing a possible motive for his killing.
“If we did not have the suspect in custody as quickly as we did, we would have absolutely sent out a Purdue alert,” Purdue University Police Chief Lesley Wiete said in a statement, adding that “I believe this was unprovoked and senseless.”
Chheda was reportedly only a few months away from graduating with a degree in data science. Although no one was in the room during the killing, authorities claim that they have a variety of witnesses in the building who heard noises when he was attacked, FOX 59 reported.
“Our hearts go out to the victim and his family and friends and anyone who might have knew him or anybody who he may touched in life,” Chief Wiete said. “This is extremely sad and unfortunate, and I can’t imagine what his family is going through at this time.”
“This is as tragic an event as we can imagine happening on our campus, and our hearts and thoughts go out to all of those affected by this terrible event,” Purdue President Mitch Daniels said, while reassuring parents that the safety of their children is a top priority.
Many students living and studying in the university have been shocked at the killing, and some claim that they weren’t informed of the death even after it happened.
“It’s just very confusing for me and very odd because it never happens on campus and not something you hear every day, especially in your own dormitory,” Jad Khalaf, a student, said. “The least you could do to inform me as someone who lives in the [same] dorm as someone [who] got murdered a night ago, is send like an Amber Alert on my phone. I’d like to know about it.”
