CRIME WAVE SWEEPS DURHAM

A Duke graduate student was found shot to death at 11:30 p.m. Friday inside his home at The Anderson Apartments, just 1.6 miles from West Campus. Abhijit Mahato, 29, was a second-year Ph.D. candidate in the Pratt School of Engineering studying computational contact mechanics. The Durham Police Department is treating the crime as a homicide, which authorities said appeared to be motivated by robbery. It was the city's second murder of the year, with 2008's first killing occurring just hours earlier on Burke Street, 1.4 miles south of campus. "It's very difficult-we all just loved Abhijit," said Tod Laursen, senior associate dean for education in Pratt and Mahato's adviser. "It's very unnerving in any circumstance that's so senseless... particularly when someone is so well-liked and friendly and interesting and accommodating." Two of Mahato's friends, who discovered the body, had been worried Friday because Mahato had not been responding to phone calls, according to The Times of India. The University community received a Formal Timely Warning, as federally mandated by the 1990 Clery Act, about the crime Saturday. The warning was sent through the new Duke Alert system some five hours after the shooting had occurred. "It may seem that there was a long period of time between, but we were working [from the time Duke officials were notified]," said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs. He added that he had been informed of the crime around 1:30 a.m. The Clery Act requires institutions to give alerts when crimes may present a threat to the safety of students or employees. An institution must only report crimes that would appear in the annual Clery statistics-on campus, in residential facilities, in non-campus buildings or on public property-and must indicate whether an incident was a hate crime. This is the third shooting death of an Indian doctoral student in a month, following the Dec. 13 murders of two Ph.D. candidates at Louisiana State University. Newspapers in India are reporting that the incidents have raised questions within the Indian community about the safety of the U.S. university environment. Moneta said, however, he did not think the crime would affect international students' feelings of safety or general reservations about coming to the U.S. to study. Authorities said they did not believe the murder was a hate crime. Two staff members from the Indian Embassy flew to Durham and met with President Richard Brodhead Monday, a meeting coordinated by Moneta. "It went very well," Moneta said. "It was really both to accept the University's formal condolences.... President Brodhead was very eloquent and heartfelt. They came because they're working very closely with the family's representative [to arrange transportation of the body].... Second is they're here to really ensure diligence in the investigation and ensure that the Duke Indian community is cared for." Moneta added that he spoke with Mahato's father in India Saturday night. The crime happened amid a series of armed robberies around the Duke perimeter and throughout the city this month, but it is unclear whether the incidents are related. Duke and Durham police will be stepping up patrols near campus, said Aaron Graves, associate vice president for campus safety and security. He added that the University was reviewing safety measures in light of the recent onslaught of crime in the campus area. "Our ultimate goal, though, is to maintain high visibility in those areas [that students frequent] off campus, to deter any future accidents and alleviate the fear from this recent crime wave," Graves said. Moneta said in an interview with The Chronicle Saturday that the University was reaching out to Mahato's friends and family, both at home in India and in Durham. An acknowledgment was made during Chapel services Sunday, and a formal memorial is being planned for later in the week. Brodhead also sent an e-mail to members of the University community Monday night outlining some security steps the University will be taking-including the increased patrols and meeting with landlords to discuss security measures-and expressing sorrow at Mahato's death. "Having spoken with Professor Tod Laursen... I have a sense of his great promise and endearing character," Brodhead wrote. "I extend my sympathy to Abhijit's friends and colleagues and to all members of the Indian and Hindu community for this appalling loss." Moneta, Graves and other University officials will speak at an open forum on security at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Schiciano Auditorium in the Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences.