A wave of grief and disbelief continues to sweep through the community after the deaths of a mother and father and two children inside their Madbury home earlier this week as investigators try to understand what happened in the moments leading up to what they believe was a murder-suicide.

The deaths of Ryan Long, 48, his wife, Emily Long, 34, and two of their children, Parker, 8, and daughter Ryan, 6, have left many grief-stricken, including students and staff in the Oyster River Cooperative School District where Ryan Long worked as a school psychologist and their children attended school.

After holding crisis meetings with school personnel as news of the tragedy spread, Superintendent Robert Shaps released a statement Wednesday on behalf of the devastated school community.

“The Oyster

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