UC Davis officials say that a postdoctoral researcher in the university’s plant biology department was killed in Ethiopia when the vehicle she was riding in was struck by rocks thrown by protesters.
The university said in a statement Wednesday that Sharon Gray, 30, was in the East African country for a meeting about her research when she was killed Tuesday while traveling in a car in the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa.
The university said what happened was unclear but spokesman Andy Fell confirmed to the the Sacramento Bee Gray was the American the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia confirmed was killed in an area that has seen months of deadly protests.
UC Davis says another member of the plant biology department who was traveling with Gray was not injured in is headed home.
Gray was first foreigner killed in the massive anti-government protests that have claimed the lives of hundreds of protesters since November 2015
“Even in tragedy, we hope that we all can find some comfort in the wonderful work Sharon was engaged in that will better the lives of so many around the world,” Ken Burtis, UC Davis’ acting provost, said in a statement on Facebook.
The university created a memorial page for Gray, featuring dozens of photos of her around the world.
Gray earned her bachelor’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and joined UC Davis in 2013. Her husband is a university employee, according to the Sacramento Bee.
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