Purdue student killed in residence hall; roommate in custody, university says

LAFAYETTE, Ind. LAFAYETTE, Ind.

Police said 911 call came in around 12:44 a.m. from the student’s roommate. The University President Mitch Daniels sent a letter stating that the victim's roommate is being held as a suspect in this murder.

WTHR reported that Purdue University Police Chief Lesley Wiete identified the suspect as Ji Min Sha, 22, a junior studying cybersecurity. According to police, Sha is an international student from Korea.

The victim was identified as Varun Manish Chheda, a 20-year-old from Indianapolis.

An autopsy will be performed on Wednesday.

Wiete said both students were awake at the time of the incident in their first-floor dorm room, and she said she believes the crime was “unprovoked and senseless.”

In a statement, Daniels called the slaying “as tragic an event as we can imagine happening on our campus.” The university is offering counseling to those who want it.

Daniels also offered reassurance about campus safety, saying it’s the “single highest priority on our campus. Purdue is an extraordinarily safe place on any given day, and compared with cities of Purdue’s population (approximately 60,000 in all), we experience a tiny fraction of violent and property crime that occurs elsewhere. These statistics are no consolation for a day such as this. A death on our campus and among our Purdue family affects each of us deeply.”

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