Williamsport Area High School

Williamsport Area High School

(Williamsport police photo)

Update: Williamsport high students about to be reported missing when their bodies were found

WILLIAMSPORT -- Two Williamsport Area High School students are dead from what authorities say appears to be a double suicide.

The bodies of the boy and girl, each in their teens, were discovered about 4 p.m. Monday near a boat launch ramp at Rose Valley Lake in northern Lycoming County.

Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. said the deaths appear to be suicides but he did not disclose how he reached that conclusion.

State police said a handgun was found at the scene but released no further information, saying the investigation is ongoing.

According to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette:

Area police and family members had been looking for the two after they did not show up for school, according to investigators.

Paramedics, Trout Run firefighters and state police rushed to the north access to the lake, just off Lake Road, for a report of two shooting victims about 4 p.m. A relative found the two.

The Williamsport Area School District confirmed the boy was a junior and the girl was a senior but their names have not been disclosed.

"We are shocked and saddened by these students' deaths," Superintendent Timothy Bowers said a statement. "We have a team of grief counselors available on-site for our students, faculty and staff."

Extra support has been deployed to the high school to provide any additional assistance the school may need, he added.

The district has banned media from the high school campus.