UNC Chapel Hill Student Body President Found Shot to Death Near Campus

Chapel Hill Police identified the victim of a shooting Tuesday near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus as 22-year-old senior Eve Marie Carson, the student body president.

Police responding to a report of gunshots in a residential neighborhood in the college town early Tuesday found Carson's body lying in the intersection of Hillcrest Drive and Hillcrest Circle.

This is the second murder of a female college student on a southern U.S. campus in as many days. Lauren Burk was shot near Alabama's Auburn University campus on Tuesday night. Both Carson and Burk are Georgia natives, from towns about one hour apart.

Police spokesman Lt. Kevin Gunter told the News & Observer of Raleigh that Carson had been shot several times, including at least once in the head. Officials said there were no suspects and no arrests had been made.

Police were asking people to be on the lookout for Carson's blue 2005 Toyota Highlander, with Georgia plate AIV-6690.

UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser issued a statement on the university's Web site saying, "We are deeply saddened and numb with grief. I know how difficult it will be to begin to comprehend something so tragic. Please, as you gather your thoughts and prayers, think of Eve's parents, family and friends."

During a memorial on campus Thursday afternoon, Moeser said of Carson, "She has been taken from us suddenly in a terrible act of violence. We simply can’t fathom it or come to grips with reality. She was not only a great physical beauty, but truly beautiful to the core."

Moeser went on to speak of Carson's "Carolina way."

"The way she lived her life embodied the Carolina way — a commitment to others and an outreach of service to the community and to the world," Moeser said.

Investigation into the shooting was continuing. Anyone with information about the identity of the victim was being urged to call the Chapel Hill Police Department, the Winston-Salem Journal reports.

Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy said that the community was shaken. "We've suffered a tragic loss today, and our community is in shock and grief," he told the News & Observer of Raleigh.

Carson was elected student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in February 2007 and was scheduled to graduate this spring. A native of Athens, Ga., Carson entered UNC in the fall of 2004 as the recipient of a prestigious Morehead Scholarship.

Carson was a pre-medicine student majoring in political science and biology.

The daughter of Bob Carson and Teresa Bethke, Carson also was the student body president of her high school, Clarke Central, in Georgia.

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