The Brockport community remains in shock after a man shot and killed his two young children before turning the gun on himself at their family home at 4708 U.S. Route 219 Thursday night.

Authorities said Brian Keith David Jr., 7, and Nicole Lynn David, 8, were tragically murdered by their father, Brian Keith David, 32, on the Fourth of July.

Ridgway-based state police Cpl. Curtis Wise said on Sunday afternoon that law enforcement officials are treating the incident as a double-homicide/suicide, but no charges are being filed because the killer is dead, having killed himself after shooting his two children.

Wise said the deaths took place between 7:20 and 9 p.m. Thursday and were reported to police by the children’s mother when she arrived home to find them and their father dead of gunshot wounds.

No one else was home at the time of the killings, and the autopsies were conducted in Erie, according to Wise.

The two children leave behind their mother, Carrie Connacher, and a sister, Ariana Connacher, both of Brockport.

According to the obituaries printed in the DuBois Courier Express newspaper, Nicole and her little brother, Brian, enjoyed taking trips to the park in Brockway, swimming and going camping. He also loved to collect and play with Matchbox cars, of which he had more than 400 in his collection.

Nicole would have been in third grade and Brian would have been in second grade this fall at Brockway Area Elementary School. Sadly, they will both be buried in Beechtree Cemetery in Brockway instead.

Brockway Area Elementary School principal Amy Glasl talked to The Era on Sunday about the devastating loss.

“The Brockway Area School District as well as the entire Brockway community are saddened by the loss of two of our students,” Glasl said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”

She said grief counseling will be available at the elementary school beginning today and continue through Friday. Several personnel, including the school psychologist, guidance counselor, principal and vice principal will be on hand between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to offer support and assistance to those grieving the students.

“People are just pulling together to pick up the pieces,” Glasl said.

“Those two were just happy, happy kids. Both Brian and Nicole were loved by everyone whose lives they touched,” she said, breaking down into tears. “A school day did not go by without both of them hugging their teachers, friends and principals, and saying ‘I love you’.

“They were so full of love and that’s the kind of family they came from,” she continued. “I think a lot of us, right now, are just trying to wrap their heads around it. We’re thinking it cannot be real.”

Glasl said parents of the childrens’ schoolmates have been in contact with school personnel at their homes, asking what they should tell their children.

“We’re all very close. We’re just doing what we can to get through,” Glasl said.