WALTHAM, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- School counselors are on hand at Waltham High School Saturday morning and afternoon after the shocking death of 17-year-old student Tyler Zanco.
On Friday, the Middlesex District Attorney's office identified Zanco as the victim of a fatal apartment complex shooting in Waltham.
Waltham police responded to reports of shots fired at the Gardencrest Apartments on Middlesex Circle just after 10 p.m. Thursday. They arrived to find Zanco suffering from a gunshot wound in the parking lot.
Zanco was transported to Newton Wellesley Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The district attorney's office, Waltham police, and Mass. State Police are investigating. They say no arrests have been made, however they do not believe this was a random attack.
"This is very tragic for the family and the city. The School Department took the appropriate steps for the students and the district. My thoughts and prayers are with Tyler's family," said Waltham Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy.
The Waltham superintendent released a statement Friday that read in part: "It was with great sadness that we were informed of the tragic death of one of our students. Staff and students at Waltham High School and in the district mourn the profound loss of a member of our high school."
Zanco's friend Bridget Marroquin said, "He's so friendly, he doesn't seem like a person that would get in trouble."
She went on to say that he was like a brother to her.
"We were pretty close. I saw him as a brother. When I came to school in a bad mood he would talk to me and try to cheer me up in any form," she said.
Zanco had an older mentor he'd been paired up with through a high school program. Andy Merritt spent the past two years helping Zanco navigate the challenges of being a teenager and the pair spoke several times a week. By phone Friday, Merritt told FOX 25 that Zanco wasn't the type to go picking fights, but he also wasn't afraid to stand up for himself or others.
"Tyler was so full of life and so full of potential," Merritt said.
A Go Fund Me site has been set up to help the family with funeral expenses and you can donate by clicking here.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Waltham police at 781-314-3607 or Mass. State Police at 781-897-6600.