One student died and another student has been arrested following an altercation on the second floor in the Graham-Greenlee residence hall, 610 N. Highland Ave., early Wednesday morning, according to UAPD.
Mia J. Henderson, an 18-year-old biology freshman and her roommate, Galareka Harrison, an 18-year-old public administration freshman, were transported to University Medical Center.
Henderson was pronounced dead upon arrival, police said.
Harrison sustained non-life threatening injuries consistant with a knife stabbing, said Sgt. Eugene Mejia, public information officer for UAPD.
Harrison was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and was booked into Pima County Jail, Mejia said.
Harrison is on interim suspension and is not allowed on the UA campus at this time, according to an official statement made on the UA website.
A resident assistant in Graham-Greenlee called police at 5:45 a.m. Wednesday morning. Police arrived on the scene at 5:47 a.m. and transported the women to UMC, Daykin said.
On Aug. 28 Henderson filed a police report for property crime with her roommate as an investigative lead in the case, Daykin said. A second property crime victim is also involved in the ongoing investigation and her name has not been released, Daykin said. Police reports state money and other property had been stolen from Henderson, Daykin said.
Following the theft Henderson stated that she would be staying elsewhere until alternate arrangements could be made for one of the women to move, Daykin said.
It was unclear where she was staying, for how long, or if she had moved back into the residence hall before the altercation. Henderson turned down alternative housing arrangements offered by residence life.
Counseling services are available for students and their families, said Melissa Vito, Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Students.
Counseling and Psychological Services was present at the Graham-Greenlee residence hall all morning and CAPS is accepting walk-in visits for students who need to speak with someone, said Johnny Cruz, director of media relations for the UA.
The UA Parents Association released an email to about 15,000 parents on their listserv this morning detailing the incident and offered contacts for concerned parents, Cruz said. Emails were also sent to students explaining the events that unfolded.
This is the second death of a student on campus so far this year. While it is too soon to tell if university policies will change following this incident and the suicide in Coronado residence hall, these issues are in the spotlight.
“”We know that our campus community and external community is in a state of heightened awareness with the release of the Virginia Tech report recently and other campus issues,”” Vito said.
University officials and police expressed sadness and condolences to the family about the death.
“”The death of student Mia Henderson is a terrible tragedy that saddens everyone in the University of Arizona family,”” said President Robert Shelton in a statement. “”On behalf of the University I want to extend my deepest sympathy to Mia’s parents, family and friends, and to assure our campus community that we are taking every possible step to handle this situation.””
This article will be updated throughout the day as more details become available.
