Fresno State student dies; friends say he was unconscious on frat porch for hours

FRESNO, Calif. -- Heartbroken family members pleaded with Fresno Police Wednesday, trying to understand how a young man's visit to a fraternity house ended in his death.

"They are trying to say it's not a murder, and it is. Someone gave him Fentanyl," a friend of the victim said.

Friends said the 19-year-old Fresno State student was visiting Delta Sigma Phi during Winter break when someone handed him a pill. Police have not confirmed that information.

The young man's friends claim he lay unconscious for hours on the front porch of the fraternity, until help finally came.

"Not good, but determined to get to the hospital," the victim's friend said.

Was he talking in the car?

"No, he was unconscious," the friend said.

Police said by the time they received the medical call for help, the young man had already been taken to St. Agnes and pronounced dead.

Detectives spent hours interviewing people who lived inside the fraternity.

Members of Delta Sigma Phi did not answer the door when ABC30 Action News tried to reach them. But the national office sent out a statement that said:

"While the investigation continues, it is important to note that this was not connected to any chapter event and occurred during the school's Winter break."

That is little consolation to the student's friends and family, who said the school and community lost a brilliant mind.

"Neurosurgeon, rapper, fashion designer. There was a lot on the plate. There were a lot of things he could do," a friend of the victim said.

Dreams, his friends said, will never be realized.