Coroner: Student died of cardiac arrest

Published 12:00 am Sunday, May 3, 2009

STARKVILLE (AP) — A coroner says an 18-year-old Mississippi State University student who collapsed in a campus residence hall died of cardiac arrest.

Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt said Matthew Gatewood was transported to Oktibbeha County Hospital Thursday and pronounced dead in the emergency room.

A news release from the university said Gatewood was a freshman civil engineering major from Clinton.

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Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs, called the death is “a great tragedy for a very promising young man.”

Gatewood maintained a perfect grade point average while at Mississippi State.