DOVER, Del.—A University of Delaware student who was accused of threatening people with a BB gun has died after what authorities described as a “medical emergency” in his prison cell, police said Wednesday.
Delaware State Police said Quinn Annable, 20, was pronounced dead Tuesday morning.
Authorities said correctional officers at Howard R. Young prison in Wilmington found Annable unresponsive in his cell Thursday night. Officers began life-saving measures, including CPR, and Annable was taken to Christiana Hospital in critical condition.
Annable was being held at the time on $20,000 cash bail. While he was hospitalized, his bail conditions were modified to unsecured bail and he was released from Department of Correction custody on Friday. It’s unclear who requested the bail modification or why.
A DOC spokesperson refused to say whether Annable’s death was the result of suicide, or whether DOC sought the bail modification.
Newark police arrested Annable, who was a UD sophomore, at his off-campus residence on Oct. 6 and charged him with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and two counts of aggravated menacing. He was also charged by UD police with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and second-degree assault.
Newark police said they received a report shortly before 8 p.m. on Oct. 3 from two people who said they were walking on Academy Street when the driver of a vehicle that had been following them pointed a gun and threatened to shoot them.
Shortly after that report, university police were contacted by a man who said he was walking through a parking lot on Academy Street when he was shot with what he thought was a BB gun. The vehicle and suspect both matched details of the prior incident.
Newark police identified Annable as a suspect through video surveillance and witness statements. Police recovered what they described as an “air pistol that shoots metal pellets.”
