A Juneau man was found dead near University of Alaska Southeast campus housing Sunday morning. Benjamin Parson, 39, appears to have died from a gunshot wound, said Juneau Police Department spokesman Lt. David Campbell.<\/p>\n
Parson\u2019s body was sent to the State Medical Examiner\u2019s Office in Anchorage. Campbell said JPD suspects the death was a suicide, but police are not ruling anything out yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re suspecting (suicide), but we don\u2019t know for sure,\u201d Campbell said on the phone Monday. \u201cAt this point, there aren\u2019t any persons of interest or suspects at large that we\u2019re looking for. The Medical Examiner\u2019s Office will hopefully be able to shed some light on what we\u2019re dealing with here.\u201d<\/p>\n
JPD received a report Sunday at 11:13 a.m. Sunday of an unresponsive male with a facial injury located in a trailhead parking lot off of University Drive. Campbell said Parson\u2019s body was found relatively close to UAS housing, but not on university property.<\/p>\n
\u201cOff that road is a parking lot and at the edge of the parking lot was a pickup truck. From the road, you couldn\u2019t see anything, but when you got up to the pickup truck, the driver\u2019s side doors were open and Benjamin Parson was on the ground, outside with a (fatal) injury,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
A U.S. Forest Service officer was first on scene, followed by JPD and Capital City Fire\/Rescue. JPD recovered a small caliber firearm that was found close to Parson\u2019s body.<\/p>\n
UAS spokesperson Keni Campbell said Parson is not a student, staff or faculty member of UAS.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact reporter Lisa Phu at 523-2246 or lisa.phu@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: Are you in crisis and need help? If you are looking for help for yourself or others, please talk to someone. Call the Alaska Careline at 1-877-266-HELP, or text 4help to 839863 from 3-11 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. You can also visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the Alaska Community Mental Health Centers or juneausuicideprevention.org.<\/em><\/p>\n Read more news:<\/strong><\/p>\n Approved: Rainforest Farms could be selling retail marijuana by November<\/a><\/p>\n Juneau’s homeless clinic will soon be run by Wrangell org<\/a><\/p>\n