Antioch High School graduate killed in Ethiopia

A woman with Lake County roots was killed this week in Ethiopia when the vehicle she was riding in was attacked by rock-throwing protesters.

Sharon Gray, 30, a former Lindenhurst resident, was a postdoctoral researcher in the plant biology department at the University of California, Davis.

The 2003 graduate of Antioch Community High School was in the East African country for a meeting about her research and was not involved in Tuesday's anti-government protest in the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa.

Another member of the plant biology department who was traveling with her was not injured, according to a statement on the university website.

Gray's death sparked an outpouring of tributes from family, friends and co-workers.

Antioch-Lake Villa Area High School District 117 Superintendent Jim McKay recalled Gray was a student in a physics class he taught. She also was active in the school's theater program.

"She was an absolutely standout student and person," McKay said. "(She was) one of the more talented people you'd ever meet."

Mick Torres, a former assistant principal at Antioch High when Gray was a student, said her death was a tragedy.

A longtime family friend, Torres said he "can't imagine the pain they (Gray's family) are enduring today." He said she had five siblings.

Gray was very involved in high school as a gymnast and in organizing and participating in humanitarian and charitable activities, Torres recalled. She had a vision for making a difference in the world, he said.

"An absolutely amazing young woman from an equally amazing family," said Torres, who is an administrator with Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128.

Gray went on to earn bachelor's and doctorate degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She had been a researcher at the University of California, Davis, since 2013.

The project that brought her to Ethiopia involved the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and other charitable organizations, according to the university statement signed by Interim Provost Ken Burtis and Mark Winey, the dean of the college of biological sciences.

An online photographic memorial for Gray has been created on the website for the university's plant biology department, plb.ucdavis.edu/sharongray.

Gray's peers in the plant sciences department were svhocked by her death, university spokeswoman Kim Hale said.

Hale described Gray as a vibrant woman who "had a wonderful career ahead of her."

In a Facebook post, Gray's sister-in-law, Rhonda Gray, described Gray as "the most near perfect person I had ever met."

"This is a great loss," the Utah woman wrote.

In another Facebook post, Gray's sister, Ruth Gray Wilke, said Gray was a "bright light in a sometimes bleak world."

"My sister was the most exceptional human being anyone of us has ever known. She touched every life she encountered in a positive and beautiful way. My sister is gone and this world is so much worse for it," she wrote.

Sharon Gray was the first foreigner killed in the massive protests in Ethiopia that have claimed hundreds of lives since November 2015.

The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert about Ethiopia in August because of those protests. It urged U.S. citizens traveling in Ethiopia to avoid demonstrations and large gatherings.

This week, Associated Press reported more than 50 people were confirmed dead in a stampede after police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse an anti-government protest that grew out of a massive religious festival.

• Daily Herald news services contributed to this report.