By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher
The Associated Press
HONOLULU — Two men fell from the 14th floor of a University of Hawaii dormitory — one of them to his death while trying to pull the other from a ledge, Honolulu police said.
The 24-year-old man who died was trying to bring inside an apparently distraught 19-year-old who went out a window onto the ledge early Sunday, authorities said.
Both men fell to the ground and were critically injured, police said in a statement. They were taken to a hospital, where the older man was pronounced dead.
The 19-year-old remained in critical condition Monday, police said.
Neither man was a University of Hawaii student, school spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said.
A student who lived at the dorm had people over, and the two men were among them, Meisenzahl said. Their names were not released.
“It’s a terrible tragedy — the last thing we want to happen ... whether they are students or not,” he said. “Of course, our condolences go out to their friends and family.”
The school year hasn’t started yet, so only about 20 students were living in the two towers that make up the Hale Wainani dorm. The university has offered them counseling, Meisenzahl said.
The university’s flagship campus in Honolulu’s Manoa neighborhood is generally a commuter school without much of a fraternity scene, Meisenzahl said. About 4,000 of 18,000 students live in campus housing.