Carrboro police haven’t ruled out hazing in the death of a UNC freshman last October, according to an update from the department.
David Shannon, a UNC freshman and a pledge in the Chi Phi fraternity, died after falling 40 feet from machinery at Carrboro’s Ready Mixed Concrete Plant.
Police reached out to members of the fraternity and the UNC community but haven’t received any information in return, Carrboro Police Chief Walter Horton said in a recent email update to town staff.
What little information police did receive couldn’t be confirmed, he said.
“You also inquired what charges would be appropriate in this case if we got to that point. Depending on what information is developed, we may be able to charge N.C. General Statute 14-35 Hazing which is a class 2 misdemeanor,” Horton said in the email. “Dependent on other developments, we may have additional charges if appropriate.”
N.C. General Statute 14-35 defines hazing as “to subject another student to physical injury as part of an initiation, or as a prerequisite to membership, into any organized school group, including any society, athletic team, fraternity or sorority, or other similar group.”
Ross Masters, president of the Chi Phi fraternity, said Shannon was not being hazed by the Chi Phi fraternity the night he died. Masters said the fraternity does not haze its pledges.
Masters said police have not interviewed him as part of the investigation, and the fraternity had not considered it could be implicated.
“We were never even worried about the legal aspects,” Masters said. “Our hearts are just broken for David.”
