Student death ruled intentional
November 26, 2007 - Last updated at 12:38pm, Nov. 27
The north entrance of Pritchard is blocked off after a student fell out of the 7th floor of Pritchard Hall.
STAFF PHOTO BY BRIAN SEWELL
Initial evidence suggests that Jonathon David Jones' fall from the 7th floor window of Pritchard Hall was intentional.
It has been confirmed that a student has fallen from the seventh floor of Pritchard Hall. The student has been identified as Jonathan David Jones. He was rushed to Montgomery Regional Hospital, but was pronounced dead upon arrival. He was a freshman communication major and lived in Barringer Hall.
Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said this morning that the state medical examiner will make a final determination of the cause of death for Tech student Jonathan David Jones. But he said the preliminary investigation by the university's police department suggests the student's fall from a seventh-floor dormitory window was not accidental.
The police department received a phone call at approximately 7pm after a student heard some kind of loud noise.
Paramedics found a male student on the ground at the entrance of the hall. He had fallen out of the seventh story study lounge window. The student was brought to Montgomery Regional Hospital and pronounced dead upon arrival.
If anyone has any additional information on the case, contact Officer Henley of the Virginia Tech Police Department at (540) 231-8121.
Virginia Tech has released the following media advisory:
Virginia Tech Police have confirmed a student death on the Blacksburg campus. A preliminary investigation indicates that on Monday evening, at approximately 7 p.m., Jonathan David Jones of Fredericksburg, Va., a first year student majoring in communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, fell or jumped from the seventh floor study lounge of East Prichard Hall. He was transported by Blacksburg Rescue to Montgomery Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was 19 years old. Next of kin have been notified.
Virginia Tech Police asks that anyone who might have relevant information in this case to call Det. Henley at 231-8121.
Note to Editors: It is not university practice to announce student deaths. However, because of the very public nature of this tragic event, and because public media are reporting this information and more, we believe it is in the best interest of students and their families to confirm what we know.
Comments (7)
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Posted by Andrew Mager | November 27, 2007 12:50 PMI've been reading the articles on this and I'm a little confused. Both the CT and Planetblacksburg have articles with the headlines Update: Fall ruled intentional & Update: Student death ruled suicide respectively. From what I gather from the articles themselves, the incident is still under investigation and final determinations have yet to be made. The evidence does suggest towards an intentional fall, but that still hasnt been confirmed. With all that information, the headlines of both articles seem to be misleading. By saying that the fall/death was "ruled" intentional/suicide in the headlines, it suggests that there has been confirmation of what actually occurred, which at this point hasnt happened. Personally, when I first saw the headlines, I
immediately thought that the medical examiners had confirmed it a suicide.
I post this comment not as a criticism of the article, but to raise caution in reporting only what has been confirmed true. The article itself was very informative. It's just the healine that raises an issue. PB to date has created a name for itself in being a credible news source because it only reports known information. And as a fan of PB, I hope that continues.
Posted by R. Conde | November 27, 2007 10:28 PMvery very sad- you students need to know that there are resources out there to help you .
please dont resort to this- your families love you.
however, i applaud the paper for recognizing that it happened and informing us -
some media doesnt believe in reporting suicides .
god bless
Posted by hokie parent | November 29, 2007 7:53 AMThis tragedy makes me feel so sad. I am praying for this young man's family and friends. I don't think people realize how prevalent suicide is on college campuses (approximately 1100 a year). Maybe PB could make something good come of this by educating everyone - publish warning signs and resources.
Posted by KR | November 29, 2007 8:34 AM:(
Posted by artichokie11 | December 1, 2007 8:52 AMI do think it is important for there to be awareness of the suicides so prevelant on college campuses. This is often supressed by the schools for reasons of reputation. I would like to make the point that this suicide was not reported for awareness reasons but because the knowledge of it was rather unavoidable due to the way the young man chose to end his life. As a student at Virginia Tech, I would like to state that the school has done just about nothing in response. Although I did not know if, I am hit profoundly hard by his death. Why did it happen? How will we prevent what went wrong from happening again? I fear we are learning nothing from the shooting in April and nothing from Jonathan's fall. In the end, we are all in the dark of what is going on in the minds and hearts of those around us.
Posted by VTgirl | December 1, 2007 3:16 PMI agree that investigating ways to help people in suicidal situations is noble, however let's not sensationalize the problem.
1100 suicides a year by college students is not an appalling figure. Using raw numbers without putting them into context doesn't allow for meaningful interpretation.
Consider this comparison:
The United States as a whole estimates a suicide rate of about 11 per 100,000 citizens. There are approximately 15.9 million students in US colleges, of which 1100 are expected to commit suicide.
This means that college students are committing suicide at a rate of 11 per 159,000 students - lower than the US overall average by 59%.
Considering the social and academic pressures students place on themselves, I'd say this is surprisingly low.
Posted by Jason T | January 6, 2008 7:40 AM