USAFA Cadet passes away

AFrpaso

Prior E, USAFA Preppie, Grad & ALO
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This statement was released roughly four hours ago by the official USAF Academy Facebook Page.

USAF Academy Facebook Page said:
An Air Force Academy cadet has passed away today.

The cadet was found with injuries in his dorm and emergency medical personnel responded. The cadet was later pronounced dead at 3:43 p.m., by the El Paso County Coroner.

Notification of next of kin is underway. Department of Defense policy is to withhold the name of the deceased until 24 hours after notification of next of kin.

“The Academy family is deeply saddened by the death of one of our own. Our heart-felt condolences go out to the family and friends of the cadet. Our Air Force family is grieving this loss, and we are committed to helping the family through this extremely difficult time,” said Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, Air Force Academy Superintendent.

The incident is under investigation.

More information will be released as it becomes available.

Here's a toast. . .
 
What a tragic time for USAFA. We'll be keeping the cadets and the family of the deceased in our prayers.
 
Very horrible news. Seems like a run of it lately on the Hill. Prayers to the family and friends as they try to cope with the loss.
 
Pair of attacks? What the?

Prayers for the cadet's family and friends, and the entire USAFA community.
 
Yes, it's been a very rough year for all the cadets on the Hill.

The pair of attacks on the trails is still being investigated so there's been no additional reports on that. The cadet(s) are fine, though, and well taken care of. It is not believed to be another cadet who attacked, btw (The Gazette likes to skew things a little)

More information about the current situation will be released 24 hours after the family is notified. I believe USAFA felt the need to post a statement since the Gazette happened to be there at the time & decided to run with the story. All I will say is, don't believe everything you read. The paper is sensationalizing a very sad situation.
 
More information about the current situation will be released 24 hours after the family is notified. I believe USAFA felt the need to post a statement since the Gazette happened to be there at the time & decided to run with the story. All I will say is, don't believe everything you read. The paper is sensationalizing a very sad situation.

What exactly is being sensationalized?
 
What exactly is being sensationalized?
I don't want to go into details since I don't have all the information, either -- parent's networks have a lot of info, but they can get very emotional as well. The Gazette should not have reported it until the victim's parents were notified, IMO, and not until USAFA completed at least the initial investigation. It caused much too much speculation & stress - the wording implied things which may or may not be true.
 
USAFA has previously been reluctant to mention suicide when a cadet is found dead in their room, unfortunately their reluctance does not help but initiate speculation that there is a murderer running around the barracks, which if true would certainly be alarming and cause for concern.
 
USAFA has previously been reluctant to mention suicide when a cadet is found dead in their room, unfortunately their reluctance does not help but initiate speculation that there is a murderer running around the barracks, which if true would certainly be alarming and cause for concern.

It's also been handled fairly differently than previous on-base cadet deaths, which is contributing to the unease. I do see why people are concerned that the Gazette ran a story before next of kin notification, but honestly, their article was pretty matter of fact, the way I read it.
 
I don't want to go into details since I don't have all the information, either -- parent's networks have a lot of info, but they can get very emotional as well. The Gazette should not have reported it until the victim's parents were notified, IMO, and not until USAFA completed at least the initial investigation. It caused much too much speculation & stress - the wording implied things which may or may not be true.

Reporting (and releasing) information on a death or accident is very typical. Names aren't released until next of kin notifications, but providing general information in not uncommon.
 
Reporting (and releasing) information on a death or accident is very typical. Names aren't released until next of kin notifications, but providing general information in not uncommon.
That's true LITS. However, the article stated that the parents had not been notified. That caused a huge uproar from many of the cadets' parents -- what if it was "my kid?" The Gazette should have waited. I can tell you that there was a firestorm of posts on the parent groups last night until more information came out. The cadets were finally told to call/text their parents.
 
The USAFA press release stated the same thing. That's where the Gazette got that the parents hadn't been notified.
 
That's true LITS. However, the article stated that the parents had not been notified. That caused a huge uproar from many of the cadets' parents -- what if it was "my kid?" The Gazette should have waited. I can tell you that there was a firestorm of posts on the parent groups last night until more information came out. The cadets were finally told to call/text their parents.

I totally understand. The other risk is for USAFA to say nothing and have the void of information filled with pure speculation. That often happens too.
 
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