So far, police do not suspect foul play in the death of a man whose body was found in the creek near the entrance of Las Lomas High at about 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Pat Lickiss, the principal of Las Lomas High, said he received a phone call from Walnut Creek police, shortly after the man's body was found. He said police told him that the man, white and his 30s or 40s, has no connection to the school--and that his death so far does not look to be the result of foul play.
However, the Contra Costa County Coroner's Office, which took possession of the body sometime before 11 a.m. will determine the cause of death, though an autopsy is not expected to take place today. A Coroner's deputy also said that his office will try to learn the identify of the man.
According to various news reports, Lt. Mark Perlite said there were no obvious signs of why the man died. A passerby discovered the body at about 8:15 a.m. near the school's entrance at 1460 South Main Street. The discovery put the school in official "lockdown," though the campus is pretty much closed for the winter holiday, save for a small number of staff and administrators on campus.
I do wonder if he was one of Walnut Creek's homeless--or "residentially challenged"--population. We all know that these people set up camps, or even bed down for the night, along the banks of creeks around town. If this man happens to belong this segment of our community's population, his death, sad and tragic as it is, may point to questions I raised in a post yesterday about our local homeless population.
2 comments:
There is certainly nothing wrong with wondering, about the homeless. But as you describe yourself as a working journalist, I am wondering why you would potentially assume he was homeless? I know its a blog and all, but isn't it bad form to link for something you are "reporting" to something you recently "editorialized" about to link the 2 together?
3:33 p.m.
You're right that I might be jumping to conclusions.
But they might be conclusions that others might jump to.
In "wondering," I'm not saying anything negative about the homeless. You might take it differently. I'm curious. And I know others who work with the homeless were similarly worried.
I don't write to paint a negative picture of those in our community who are less fortunate.
Believe me, I am the last person to judge.
I'm just sorry that someone's life ended, and in this way, and when he was so young.
I would like to know more about who he was. I'm sure he had family and friends.
Sorry, I just want to know more. Not because I want to judge, but because I want to find whatever common threads there are in his life--and in ours. I'm sure this isn't the way he planned to end his life, but perhaps things got difficult for him. Or something unfortunate happened.
None of us are above it. I'm sorry for his friends and his family.
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