COLORADO SPRINGS — Dave Adams remembers how excited Alex Quiros was when he gained acceptance into the Air Force Academy.
The Cheyenne Mountain High School English teacher and boys tennis coach said Quiros was a smart student and a hardworking tennis player who was up for any challenge.
“He wasn’t afraid of anything,” Adams said. “He was such an impressive young man.”
But Adams was in shock Friday when he learned Quiros was the Air Force Academy cadet who died at the school Thursday.
The 21-year-old astronautical engineering major was months from finishing his senior year when he was found injured in his Sijan Hall dormitory room. Quiros was pronounced dead at 3:43 p.m. Thursday, after emergency medical personnel responded.
“Our deepest sympathies and sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of Cadet Quiros,” academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson said in a statement Friday.
“Yesterday, we lost a member of our Air Force Academy family, and it’s a loss felt across our entire institution. Right now, our focus is on providing all possible support to the friends and loved ones of our fallen airman.”
The academy has not released information about the nature of Quiros’ injuries.
There is no indication of foul play or that anyone else was in the room when Quiros was found injured, according to sources familiar with the investigation who requested anonymity because they are not at liberty to discuss the investigation publicly.
Quiros had wisdom teeth removed earlier in the day at an academy clinic, according to the sources. It is unclear how many teeth were removed.
The Office of Special Investigations is investigating the death, the academy said Friday. The agency is the Air Force’s lead for criminal investigations.
Quiros, who graduated from Cheyenne Mountain in 2011, made the academy’s commandant’s and dean’s lists multiple times.
“Everything I heard, things were going swimmingly for him there,” Adams said.
Academy spokesman John Van Winkle said classes were not canceled Friday and that “100 percent accountability” was achieved for the 4,000 cadets on campus after the incident. Grief counseling was offered to cadets, he said.
Funeral arrangements for Quiros haven’t been finalized.
