Indian doctoral students found dead on US university campus

Police discovered two Indian doctoral students shot dead in an apparent home invasion in a Louisiana university campus apartment.

Photo: Indian doctoral students found dead on US university campus

The victims, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam, were found inside an apartment at the Edward Gay complex on the campus of Louisiana State University late Thursday night after authorities received a call from Allam's pregnant wife requesting urgent medical aid.

Both men had been shot once in the head, said Charles Zewe, an LSU spokesman. The three men seen leaving the area were being sought, he said.

"From what we're being told, Komma was bound with a computer cable and shot," Zewe said. "The other man was found near the door."

Allam's wife called authorities after returning home and finding the men dead, said Srinivasa Pothakamuri, a friend of Komma's. Komma, a biochemstry student was visiting the apartment. Allam was in the chemistry program.

Pothakamuri said Komma's wife contacted his wife Thursday night, worried that her husband had not returned after what he had said would be a 10 minute trip to see Allam. "He never came home," Pothakamuri said. They went to the apartment, and saw police.

The killings were the first homicides on LSU's campus since the early 1990s, said Kristine Calongne, a university spokeswoman.

No other violence was reported and students were free to move around the campus.

"Police actually think it was a straight home invasion and not a concern to the rest of the campus," Calongne said.

An emergency text message was sent to students registered for an emergency alert system, but not all students received it, the university said. The problem was being investigated. Many campuses implemented such emergency alert measures following the mass shootings at Virginia Tech earlier this year where a South Korean student killed 32 people before killing himself.

Calongne said only 8,000 students - less than one-third of the student body - had signed up for cell-phone notification. Officials also sent out an e-mail, voice mail message and posted a message to the LSU Web site.

The apartment building where the shootings took place is designated for married and graduate students. The complex is located on the edge of the 2,000 acre (809.39 hectare) campus, close to one of Baton Rouge's highest-crime areas.