Students at Milwaukie High School are mourning the loss of a classmate who police believe died from a heroin overdose.

Toviy Sinyayev, a 17-year-old high school junior, died in the hospital over the weekend. The State Medical Examiner is still waiting for official toxicology results but says everything he found in the autopsy points to an overdose of heroin.

Milwaukie High School leaders have crisis counselors on campus this week to help students and staff deal with their grief.

ESL teacher Kristy McKercher says everyone is in shock over Sinyayev's death. She describes him as a kind person who had a great sense humor and a knack for lighting up a room. McKercher says she never worried about him being mixed up with drugs.

"I never had any indication that something like this would be something that Toviy would do," McKercher says. "No indication from him personally or that it would be something that would effect his family."

Fellow classmates agree that they don't hear anything about heroin in school.

But Milwaukie police say they've noticed an increase in heroin use lately.

They say they had a fatal heroin overdose in December and that paramedics have responded to several overdose calls in the past two months.