Andrew Jason Bartlett, of St. Andrews, was found dead at his apartment on Sunday. (CBC)Fredericton police are investigating the death of a 21-year-old man who was discovered dead early Sunday morning.

Andrew Jason Bartlett, of St. Andrews, was a fourth-year liberal arts student at St. Thomas University in Fredericton.

"We received a call at approximately 5 o'clock in the morning of a male who was unconscious in an apartment building on Fredericton's south side," said Const. Rick Mooney.

"We responded and found the male to be deceased upon arrival."

The police are investigating the circumstances of the man's death.

Derek Montague was a close friend of Bartlett. He believes his friend's death was an accident.

"All we know is that it looks like an accident that he may have fallen or something like that," said Montague, adding that he is anxious to find out more details.

"Right now it hasn't really sunk in for any of his friends. We've been getting together and doing a lot of talking, but as far as I can tell we're all in a state of shock right now," he told CBC News.

Montague said Bartlett was well-liked at the university. He had just made the men's volleyball team and had been at an off-campus volleyball team party Saturday night.

"He told me more than once that the day he graduated from university would be a very sad day, because he loved it here," Montague said.

Katie Cornelius, who also plays volleyball at the university, said Bartlett's teammates are in shock.

"They're taking it pretty hard, it's a teammate so that's basically your family here at school," she said.

Grief counselling is being offered to students and faculty, said St. Thomas University spokesman Jeffrey Carleton.

"We've notified the faculty and students and staff and we'll go to each class for the student and speak to each professor and classmates and make sure they each know that counselling is available," Carleton said.

"We'll have a grief counsellor on campus today for students who want to drop in, and also for people who were closer to the student, we'll have grief counselling sessions for them."