TRENTON (AP) - A Rowan University student died early Sunday, just hours after he was beaten during a campus robbery, university and law enforcement officials said.
Donald Farrell, 19, of Boonton, died at Cooper University Hospital, where he had been taken after Saturday night's attack, Rowan spokesman Joe Cardona said.
Authorities say Farrell and some friends were headed to an apartment complex on the Glassboro school's campus at about 9:15 p.m. Saturday when a handful of men approached them, asking for directions.
Farrell started speaking with them, but at least two of the men then severely beat him, taking his cell phone and wallet before running away.
"It happened so quickly that the people who were with him had no time to react," Cardona said.
According to the Gloucester County prosecutor's office, Farrell was punched and likely kicked, with injuries to the head and stomach.
Police arrived within minutes of the attack, but the men who beat Farrell could not be located.
Rowan and Glassboro police had extra officers in the area because numerous parties were being held on and around the campus as part of the university's homecoming weekend.
Rowan officials plan to hold a memorial service for Farrell and will provide grief counseling to students, staff and faculty who want it.
Cardona says the school will provide further support to those who lived with Farrell in an off-campus apartment.
The county prosecutor's office and local police are still searching for the men who beat Farrell as of press time.
