To our campus community,

It is with great sadness that I must tell you that on Monday evening, ChenWei Guo, one of our international students, was killed in a senseless, random act of violence.

We have cancelled classes today in respect of ChenWei and the impact this violent event has had on our campus community. ChenWei was a pre-computer science major with a promising future and worked as a peer advisor in our International Student and Scholar Services Office.

We have been in contact with ChenWei’s family in China and they are understandably devastated by the loss of their son. We are working to bring them to Utah as soon as possible and will offer them all the assistance we can.

At this point, here is what we understand took place last night. ChenWei was parked near the gate in Red Butte Canyon when the suspect fatally shot him while attempting to hijack his vehicle.

Chief Dale Brophy and the University’s Department of Public Safety are confident that our campus is secure. I want to thank Chief Brophy and his team, the Salt Lake City Police, Unified Police, West Valley City Police, South Salt Lake Police, Cottonwood Heights Police, West Jordan Police, Utah Highway Patrol, FBI and all the other law enforcement agencies that responded last night as this tragedy unfolded and continue to work to locate this individual and take him into custody.

While classes have been cancelled today, campus services will remain open. The Counseling Center is prepared to support students with additional staffing, and Human Resources has arranged for the Employee Assistance Program to help with counseling for staff and faculty.

We will share more information online as it becomes available.

— President David W. Pershing