Flags are flying at half-staff today on the campus of SUNY Geneseo as students return for the start of the spring semester.
It was only in the past two days that they learned of the death of two of their classmates and a former student in what police are calling a murder-suicide.
Investigators say Colin Kingston was distraught over his breakup with Kelsey Annese when he killed her and Matthew Hutchinson before taking his own life on Sunday.
"I have been doing this work - working with students - for over 30 years, and an event of this magnitude is something I've never experienced," said Robert Bonfiglio, the college's vice president for Student and Campus Life.
Bonfiglio said the school has received more than 80,000 emails, calls and social media posts offering condolences from other SUNY schools and scores of alumni around the country.
"Despite this tragedy, we're certain that the resilience that comes from being a close-knit community will come to the fore and carry us through this difficult time."
Bonfiglio knew all three students, so the tragedy is personal for him. He said people are grieving not only on the SUNY Geneseo campus, but throughout the town and village of Geneseo.
"The Kingston family is a family of long standing and well known in Geneseo as community and business leaders. Our deceased ice hockey player (Matthew Hutchinson) was not only cheered on by the community, but was a leader in the volunteer fire department, and Kelsey Annese is someone whose parents met at Geneseo and subsequently married, so there are long, deep ties with all of these families in our community."
A remembrance ceremony is being planned for Wednesday evening at 7 at the Louise Kuhl Gymnasium on the SUNY Geneseo campus, and the university set up a web page with the various remembrance activities going on this month.
The school has had counselors available for students around the clock since news of the murder-suicide was first heard on Sunday.