Gabriel Trujillo, a 31-year-old UC Berkeley graduate student, was shot and killed in Mexico while conducting field research, according to friends and family.
Trujillo went missing this month while collecting plant samples in the Mexican state of Sonora, his family said on a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral services. Trujillo’s father, Anthony Trujillo, told the Associated Press his son was shot seven times.
His body was discovered June 22, days after his fiancée reported him missing.
Trujillo was a botanist in his fourth year of a doctoral program in the UC Berkeley Department of Integrative Biology. University officials said they learned of Trujillo’s death June 23.
“Local police authorities are investigating,” UC Berkeley said in a statement. “This is heartbreaking news and campus officials have reached out to his family to offer support and assistance.”
Trujillo was “a passionate ecologist, field biologist, and advocate for diverse voices in science,” UC Berkeley faculty said.
(Roxanne Cruz-de Hoyos / Associated Press)
Faculty members in the Department of Integrative Biology called Trujillo “a passionate ecologist, field biologist, and advocate for diverse voices in science.”
“He was a member of a tightly knit group of graduate students in ecology and his partner is also a member of our campus community. We all face a world that is less bright for this loss,” faculty members said in an email to students and staff.
In an obituary prepared by his family, Trujillo is described as having a “passion for nature and culture and a relentless drive for science. His deep appreciation for the natural world guided him to explore the wonders of the outdoors. He found solace in the beauty of nature, always eager to learn and protect the environment he held so dear.”
This is a developing story.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
