Canisters found in Claremont dorm after possible ‘huffing’ death
Police found empty nitrous oxide canisters in a Claremont McKenna dorm room where a student was thought to have fatally inhaled the gas, KTLA reported.
Claremont police received a call around 12:55 a.m. Friday about an unconscious male who had been inhaling nitrous oxide, Lt. Shelly Vanderveen told The Times. The practice is commonly known as “huffing.â€
Officers, and later paramedics, responded to Berger Hall and attempted to revive the student before taking him to a hospital, Vanderveen said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital Friday morning.
Los Angeles County coroner’s office spokesman Ed Winter identified the student as 19-year-old Ali Wallace Mirza of Connecticut. Winter said Mirza’s official cause of death would be determined by an autopsy, which would take weeks to complete.
A school spokesman confirmed the death of a student on Friday, but did not immediately provide additional details.
KTLA said Ali Mirza’s family was in town to watch his older brother graduate from the college on Saturday.
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