Profiles In Badassery: Andrew Boldt

Before today, few people knew who Andrew Boldt was. Unfortunately, his name is now synonymous with tragedy. Boldt, a 21-year-old student from Wisconsin, was the victim in today's shooting in the Electrical Engineering Building.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Andrew was an Electrical Engineering student from Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an undergraduate TA in the Electrical Engineering department at Purdue. He had interned at John Deere before returning to Purdue, and was a senior in his second year as a TA.

Andrew and I had some similarities too, like he did with many of you. I often had class in EE in the EE 129 lecture hall. He was Vice President of Cary Club and I lived in Cary for a year. Both of us were Eagle Scouts too. He even had a connection to H&R, as former writer Jackson Brunner knew him:

Andrew Boldt was a teammate on my flag football team. He was a friend and a very bright guy. R.I.P.

— Jackson Brunner (@BoilerOfLegend) January 21, 2014

Finally, like many of you readers out there, there was one more similarity:

We are Boilermakers.

I cannot imagine what his family is going through tonight. The shooter, identified as 23-year-old Cody Cousins, has been arrested, but his motives are not yet clear. Whatever the motives, this 21-year-old young man did not deserve to die today. He probably went in to work like you or I not suspecting a thing.

There will be a candlelight vigil tonight at 8 p.m. at the Engineering Fountain and he will undoubtedly have Golden Taps for him played later. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends today.

Purdue is a family, and today that family experienced tragedy.