Police ID Student Who Died at UMBC as 17-Year-Old Maryland Man

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Authorities have identified the student who was found deceased on campus at UMBC Sunday morning.

Eric Thomas Askins, 17, of Hollywood, Maryland, was found unresponsive in a residence hall, officials said.

Investigators are working to identify the cause of death, according to police, who reported there were no signs of foul play.

At 12:34 a.m., officials responded to the 1000 block of Hilltop Circle, where a student was unconscious, according to the Baltimore County Police Department. Medical personnel declared the individual deceased at the scene, police reported.

The Baltimore County Police Homicide Unit is investigating, which authorities say is standard in cases where the cause of death is not immediately apparent.

The body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.

This is the second UMBC student who has died in the past week, according to the university's student newspaper The Retriever. Jackson Bleier, 22, who was a swimmer at the university, was gunned down in Yale Heights on Oct. 2 in what police said appeared to be a drug-related transaction.

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