Deaths of a man and woman on UC Irvine campus being investigated as murder-suicide

Police are investigating the deaths of a man and woman found on the University of California, Irvine, campus as a murder-suicide, authorities said Tuesday night.

On Tuesday afternoon, university police responded to 911 calls about two bodies on the ground outside a multi-story university building and found a man and woman deceased when they arrived, the Irvine Police Department said in a statement. 

Detectives found evidence suggesting the deaths were a "murder-suicide" and that the man and woman may be related, the statement said. The identities and causes of death have not been released.

"It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death on campus of two individuals this afternoon," UC Irvine chancellor Howard Gillman said in a Tuesday statement to the university community. 

"Preliminary information does suggest the possibility that at least one death occurred at the hands of another," the message continued. "We are still gathering information about who the victims are and exactly what happened."

SHARK ATTACK: Man fights off shark with diving knife, escapes in another Hawaii attack

Police told KCBS-TV the man was a former UC Irvine student and that the woman had no affiliation with university.

The station also reported investigators believe they were on top of a nearby university building and the former student killed the woman before jumping off the building himself. 

“At such a time, our primary thoughts are with the victims and their families," the chancellor said.

The investigation being conducted by the Irvine Police Department is ongoing. On Wednesday afternoon, Sergeant Karie Davies told Paste BN the department had no updates.

Contributing: The Associated Press