May 4, 2008 4:00 am US/Pacific
Berkeley Man Arrested In Murder Of Cal Student
BERKELEY (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP / BCN) ―
A 20-year-old Berkeley man was arrested Saturday for allegedly killing a University of California, Berkeley senior earlier in the day along fraternity row just a few blocks from campus.
Andrew Thomas Hoeft-Edenfield was arrested on charges that he fatally stabbed Christopher Wootton, a 21-year-old engineering student due to graduate this month, in the midst of an argument that started as a verbal exchange and escalated to a physical fight, according to Berkeley police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.
About 2:45 a.m., police received a report of someone brandishing a knife, and officers responded to the rear of 2421 Piedmont Ave., the Chi Omega sorority house, Kusmiss said.
Officers were then directed to 2434 Warring St., about a block east of the Piedmont address, where they met up with a crowd of about 20 college-aged young men who were circled around Wootton, according to Kusmiss.
Wootton, who had been walking home to the Sigma Pi fraternity house from a party, suffered a stab wound to the left side of his upper chest. He died on the way to the hospital, police said.
Detectives interviewed several witnesses Saturday and believe that Hoeft-Edenfield stabbed Wootton during the "altercation," then fled westbound on Channing Way and tossed a bloody knife that was later found by officers, according to Kusmiss.
Hoeft-Edenfield was booked into City of Berkeley Jail on one count of murder, Kusmiss said.
Wootton, a Southern California resident, served as vice president of the Sigma Pi fraternity his junior year, and was the fraternity's pledge educator this year, according to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.
Wootton planned to study nuclear engineering in graduate school at UC Berkeley following his graduation this month, Birgeneau said.
"This futile and senseless killing is a loss felt by us all, including his teachers, friends and especially his fraternity brothers at Sigma Pi," Birgeneau said.
"Homicides involving UC Berkeley students historically have been very, very rare," Kusmiss said. "All homicides in the community are both sad and tragic. This is particularly difficult for the student community."
Classes at UC Berkeley were to continue Monday as scheduled, according to Marie Felde, a campus spokeswoman. University Health Services at the Tang Center will provide counseling for students, faculty and staff, she said.
Students may contact Counseling and Psychological Services at (510) 642-9494, and faculty and staff may contact CARE Services at (510) 643-7754, Felde indicated.
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