Police Investigate Possible Sorority House Homicide

Sept. 4 - BCN -- The mysterious death of a man in Berkeley quickly became even more mysterious when his body was discovered inside a sorority house near the U.C. campus.

The man had been shot and his body was found inside the Alpha Omicron Pi house on Prospect Street and Durant Avenue, not far from the Cal stadium.

A Berkeley police spokesman reported the victim of a possible homicide early this morning was a man in his 20s who might have been shot and then dropped off at sorority house near the University of California.

Officer Ed Galvan said members of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority have told police they do not recognize the man but he was let into their house, after which residents called 911.

Jeannie Czerner, Alpha Omicron Pi President: "The members of Alpha Omicron Pi understand there is a matter under investigation involving our property. We would like to clarify that there was not a party at our house yesterday evening as reported earlier by the media. We do not know the identity of the victim, but we can confirm it was not one of our members."

Emergency personnel were called to the house at 2311 Prospect St. near Bancroft Way around 2:30 a.m. Efforts to revive the man were unsuccessful.

Galvan said the victim suffered at least one gunshot wound, but residents and neighbors of the house have not reported hearing any gunshots.

The house is not being considered a crime scene, Galvan said, but Berkeley police were seeking a warrant this morning to search it. They were also investigating a vacant building that once housed a Tower Records store at 2518 Durant Ave. in connection with the man's death.

One officer was posted at the store location this morning to secure the area and investigators planned to go there later today, Galvan said. He said there was "nothing blatant or obvious" about the site that would identify it as a specific crime scene.

The main focus of the investigation remained at the sorority house this morning. Galvan described sorority members as cooperative in the investigation, giving written statements and interviews.

Police and the coroner have not identified the victim or any suspects in his death, Galvan said.

A spokeswoman for UC Berkeley said today the victim is not believed to have been a student at the university.

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