A University of Florida student died after falling from a third-floor apartment building balcony on Saturday night.
Ian Burns, 20, plunged from the University House Apartments at 725 NW 13th Street, near the school’s campus, around 6pm, authorities said.
Burns was taken to UF Health Shands Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to Gainesville police. It is unclear how he fell from the balcony but an investigation is underway.
Univeristy of Florida student Ian Burns, 20 (pictured), died after falling from a third-floor apartment building balcony on Saturday night
Burns (pictured, left, with teacher Stephanie Monsour-Nixdorf and right, with his mother Monique) fell from the University House Apartments near the school’s campus around 6pm, according to police. Burns was taken to UF Health Shands Hospital where he was pronounced dead. It is unclear how he fell from the balcony
Burns was a senior majoring in mechanical engineering but was also a singer at UF’s School of Music.
Students remembered him for his kind personality.
‘He was one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met,’ a friend, Claire Tendl, told WCJB.
‘The last day that we saw him, he like waved at me in the audience across the room and he had this little smile and he was sweet,’ Madison Barrett, who also knew Burns, told the station.
According to the Independent Florida Alligator, Burns’s family lives in West Palm Beach and was informed of his death on Saturday evening.
One student who lives at the complex says she wasn’t informed of the incident until she spoke to a reporter.
The University of Florida has not planned any memorials as of Monday morning, but some of Burns’s peers think a music ceremony would be a good way to honor his memory (Pictured, University House Apartments where Burns fell)
Burns (pictured, far left) was a senior majoring in mechanical engineering but was also a singer at UF’s School of Music
‘It definitely scares me a little bit. I think it’s kind of weird that we haven’t heard anything about it. Like I didn’t get any alerts or anything,’ Ashley Lin told WCJB.
The University of Florida has not planned any memorials as of Monday morning, but some of Burns’s peers think a music ceremony would be a good way to honor his memory.
‘The atmosphere at the music building, it’s very difficult,’ Tendl said. ‘Everybody just misses him and loves him here.’
A counselor will be stopping by for the School of Music for student support services on Wednesday.