Hundreds gathered at the University of Utah Wednesday night to pay tribute to slain student athlete Lauren McCluskey. To see video of the emotional vigil, please click on the video player above.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 25, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Lauren McCluskey, the University of Utah student who was shot and killed by a former boyfriend Monday was remembered by hundreds on the U of U campus Wednesday night.
McCluskey, 21, a senior in communications and a student athlete on the U of U’s women’s track team, was remembered as a dedicated athlete, good friend, a diligent scholar, a woman of faith, and someone who gave her limited free time to volunteer in the community, specifically at a retirement home.
“The act of violence that took Lauren’s life defies understanding,” U of U President Ruth Watkins told the hundreds who gathered at the vigil.
Words are incapable of capturing the deep loss that accompanies the senseless loss of one so full of promise, she said.
McCluskey died a couple weeks after alerting campus police to threats from her former boyfriend, Melvin Shawn Rowland, 37, who she had dated for about a month before learning he had lied about his name and his age, and had not revealed that he was a convicted sex offender on parole.
McCluskey, from Pullman, Washington, had ended her relationship with Rowland, who reportedly responded with anger.
At the time of McCluskey’s report, campus police were not able to find Rowland at the address he had supplied to parole officials. Hours after the fatal shooting and a full-campus lockdown, Rowland was found early Tuesday morning in an east-side church, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Three students who ran with McCluskey on the track team spoke at the vigil. Unable to fight off tears, their voices broke occasionally has they talked about McCluskey’s kindness, discipline and dedication.
U of U athletic director Mark Harland asked those in attendance to write notes of comfort for McCluskey’s family and friends, and to act as emotional support for each other. She urged those at the vigil to honor the legacy McCluskey leaves behind.
Women’s track coach Kyle Kepler said McCluskey was a genuine, sweet person, and she was a joy to coach. He always had high hopes when he brought a new athlete to campus, he said, “and she did everything you hope a student athlete will do.” McCluskey “will always be part of the track team family,” he said.
The Rev. France A. Davis, chaplain of the U of U football team, suggested listeners remember McCluskey by committing to peace. He asked his listeners to become peacemakers, to protect life, and to “drop stones, put away the swords,” adding, “Lauren, we will keep your legacy alive.”
The Rev. Troy Champ, pastor of the Capital Church, which McCluskey attended, led listeners in a moment of silence, then prayer, “to remember our dear friend.”
To see images from the emotional evening, click on the video player at the top of this article and the photo gallery below. (Click to enlarge images.)
