Notre Dame student dies after falling off sports arena roof

A 21-year-old senior at the University of Notre Dame died early Saturday, after he fell from the roof of the school’s sports arena.

William Meckling was among a small group of students who had climbed onto the roof of the Joyce Center, which was wet from rain, according to a news release from the university.

A university security guard was approached by several students near the center at about 3:45 a.m., the school said. The officer saw that Meckling was lying, unresponsive, on the ground near Gate 7.

Meckling was taken to Saint Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, after attempts by emergency medical personnel to resuscitate him at the scene were unsuccessful, the university said. No other students were injured.

Meckling, a mechanical engineering major who was from Centennial, Colo., was set to graduate on Sunday. He was a member of the school’s fencing team.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Billy’s family and friends after this terrible tragedy,” the Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., the university president, said in a prepared statement. “It is a profound sadness for all of us, on this graduation weekend, to lose someone so young and brimming with promise.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.