A 21-year-old UC Berkeley student has been identified as the woman who fell from a balcony early Sunday morning and died, authorities report.
The Alameda County coroner’s office identified the woman Sunday as Kimberly Tze of Elk Grove. Tze was studying computer science at UC Berkeley where she was a junior, according to her LinkedIn profile. She expected to graduate in 2018.
Tze was a member of Upsilon Pi Epsilon, an international honor society for the computing sciences, according to her online profile. As of fall 2016, she was also a member of UC Berkeley’s Gamma Gamma Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, according to chapter materials online.
First responders were called to the 2700 block of Dwight Way, near Piedmont Avenue, shortly after midnight to help someone who had fallen from a third-floor balcony. When they arrived, they found a young woman who had suffered severe head trauma, who was breathing but non-responsive. Paramedics from the Berkeley Fire Department took her to Oakland’s Highland Hospital for treatment.
According to the coroner’s office, Tze was pronounced dead at Highland at 1:39 a.m. A pathologist is expected to conduct an autopsy on her body in the next few days. If toxicology tests are required, the cause of death may not be known for up to 90 days.
According to Tze’s Facebook page, she loved dogs, especially corgis. She attended Laguna Creek High School in Elk Grove, where she was a member of the band and National Honor Society. According to the Davis Enterprise, Tze studied piano when she was younger.
Berkeleyside broke the news of the tragic fatality at about 1:45 p.m. Sunday. At that time, the coroner’s office did not have Tze’s name to release. Berkeleyside will update this post if additional information becomes available.
