Vanderbilt Player Falls To His Death

A Vanderbilt University football player, distressed over an argument with his girlfriend, pounded on a dormitory window before accidentally falling to his death, university officials and police said.

Patrick Kyle Gullahorn, 19, died Saturday night after falling from a stairwell window just outside his room in Lupton Hall between the sixth and seventh floors in the Bransford Quadrangle.

“Our understanding is that he was upset and he hit the wall a few times and then he hit the window,” said Vanderbilt dean of students, Johnan A. Madson. “He was hitting on the window and it broke. It gave and we’re assuming when it gave, he lost his footing and fell out of the window.”

Police said the glass broke after the third time the 6-foot-5-inch, 274-pound offensive lineman hit it. Gullahorn, a freshman from Hueytown, Ala., landed on a ledge above the first-floor entrance of the dorm.

Metro Nashville police are investigating the incident. They suspect alcohol may have played a part in Gullahorn’s death.