A Suffolk County grand jury has declined to make indictments in the case of an Emerson College student who died following an off-campus altercation in Allston last fall, officials said Friday.
“The Grand Jury has spoken and we respect its findings, however difficult they are to hear,” Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement.
Daniel Hollis, a 19-year-old sophomore, suffered severe head trauma in a fight that broke out early on the morning of Sept. 28 on Park Vale Avenue. He died four days later in Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“[M]y Office will continue to provide all of the resources and support that his loved ones may need as they process and grieve Daniel’s death,” Rollins said in the statement.
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In a post made Friday on the Daniel J. Hollis Foundation site, members of Hollis’s family expressed dismay about the jury’s decision.
“We are in shock,” the family wrote. “We are angry. We are sad. And we have no further comment until we learn more about the evidence collected during the investigation.”
Hollis’s family said they have not been privy to much the evidence collected in the investigation, and still have many questions about what happened the night Hollis was injured.
Shortly after the teen’s death, Hollis’ mother said in an online post that she believed he was leaving a party with friends when a scuffle began with another group of college-aged men.
“Words were exchanged, pushing/shoving started, and in the scuffle, we believe Dan was hit and subsequently hit his head on cement/bricks as he fell,” she wrote.
Hollis was found bleeding and unconscious by Boston police who responded around 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 28 to a report of an assault and battery in progress near 15 Park Vale Ave. A Marine visiting Boston on leave, Lance Corporal Samuel London, was allegedly linked to the altercation. Marine officials, who publicly identified London last November, said at the time plans were underway for his separation from the military.
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Boston police investigated Hollis’s death as a homicide.
No arrests were made in connection with the death, according to Sergeant Detective John Boyle.
In her statement, Rollins praised the work of police investigators and prosecutors involved in the case.
“The investigation that preceded the Grand Jury’s vote was incredibly thorough and painstakingly detailed," Rollins said.
Representatives for Rollins’ office could not be reached for further comment.