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Temple University is mourning the violent deaths of two students in the span of a week.
Samuel Collington, 21, a senior at Temple, was shot twice in Philadelphia on Sunday in an apparent robbery attempt, according to local TV station 6ABC. Collington was shot outside his apartment, blocks away from campus, and pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital.
“We mourn the loss of a bright and thriving political science student, and share in the wrenching grief of his family and friends,” Charlie Leone, Temple's executive director of public safety, said in a statement on Sunday. “Samuel was set to graduate this spring from the College of Liberal Arts, and already was succeeding in his field, interning as a Democracy Fellow with the city.”
No arrests have yet been made related to Collington’s death, 6ABC reported.
Katherine Kelemen, 22, a junior at Temple, died Nov. 22 after being beaten with a baseball bat in her family home in Voorhees Township, N.J., NJ.com reported. The alleged attacker—identified by police as her father, Gregory Kelemen—was later found dead from a suspected suicide. Her mother, Sheri Kelemen, was injured in the same attack but survived. Sheri Kelemen is an employee of Temple’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine, according to a university statement.
“The circumstances surrounding this situation are tragic,” reads the statement, released Nov. 23. “We extend our thoughts and deepest sympathies to those who are closest to Katherine and Sheri, especially their family, friends, faculty, colleagues and classmates. We rally around Sheri and hope she will pull through her serious injuries to make a full recovery.”
In both statements, Temple encouraged students to seek out counseling services. Leone’s statement noted that “senior university officials spoke with Mayor [Jim] Kenney’s office today and we are intensifying our work with the city, community groups and the Philadelphia Police Department to further enhance safety in and around the Temple community.”
