A person was shot and killed inside the basement of an engineering building on Purdue University's West Lafayette, Ind., campus on Tuesday by an undergraduate teaching assistant, authorities said.
Andrew Boldt, a senior at the school, was specifically targeted by 23-year-old Cody Cousins, a fellow teaching assistant, who immediately surrendered to police outside the campus' Electrical Engineering Building after the shooting, police said. No other injuries occurred, Fox News reported.
Being held on the preliminary charge of murder in the Tippecanoe County Jail, Cousins was not cooperating with investigators, authorities said.
According to Fox News, it wasn't clear what kind of relationship the two men shared prior to the shooting.
Although there was no immediate indication that Cousins and Boldt had past troubles, Purdue Police Chief John Cox said witnesses believed the shooting was "an intentional act."
Classes were canceled on Tuesday and Wednesday by Purdue President Mitch Daniels, who was prompted to cut short a weeklong university trip to Colombia, Fox News reported.
"Violent crime, whenever and wherever it occurs, shocks our conscience and incites our rage. When it happens in our home, to a family member -- and as a Boilermaker Andrew Boldt was family to us -- those emotions are more powerful still," Daniels said in a statement read Tuesday night at a campus vigil, which was attended by hundreds.
After firing four or five shots, Cousins surrendered to a police officer outside the building, Cox said.
Boldt, 21, was an Eagle Scout and someone who loved robotics and was always willing to help others with technology issues, former teachers said. According to his LinkedIn profile, he spent two summers interning for John Deere in Silvis, Ill.
Jean Morrell, Boldt's calculus teacher at Milwaukee's Marquette University High School, recalled how he frequently stayed after class to talk to her about math concepts, robotics and his dreams of attending Purdue, Morrell's alma mater, according to Fox News.
"Andrew Boldt was a young man who had the potential to make the world a better place. He was a phenomenal young man," Morrell said, her voice cracking. "He had a great mind, but he also had a great heart. I'm just sad he won't get an opportunity to realize his dreams, to make his contribution to the world."
Boldt's family was in shock, Rev. Warren Sazama, the president of Boldt's high school, said.
"The mother said, 'You don't expect to get up in the morning and expect your son to be one in a million for a tragedy like this to happen,"' he said.
Little is known about Cousins, who Cox said has addresses in Warsaw, Ind., and Centerville, Ohio. Efforts to reach relatives weren't immediately successful, Fox News reported.
The campus was quickly alerted by the police of the danger through text messages, Provost Tim Sands and Cox said
"It's something that we practice a lot," Cox said. "It's one of those sad situations that none of us hope ever happens."
Sands -- who in June will become president of Virginia Tech, where a 2007 campus shooting left 33 dead -- said Purdue will offer assistance to those who need it, Fox News reported.
"We'll provide whatever services we can to assist our students, our faculty and our staff in coming back to a sense of normality," he said.
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