Friends and colleagues said they were “shocked” to hear of the charges against Pring-Wilson—who they said went by Xander.

Brian Wockley, a classmate and good friend of Pring-Wilson said he is “not a violent person who would just out and attack someone.”

“I can’t believe this could have happened unless he was provoked,” Wockley said. “Xander is one of the most loyal and generous and caring friends I’ve ever had. He’d do anything for someone if they were in trouble.”

A second-year master’s student in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia studies, Pring-Wilson is planning to attend law school in Colorado following graduation this year.

A Colorado native who speaks Russian and Croatian, he studied classics at Colorado College and is writing his master’s thesis on post-war reconstruction in Bosnia.

Wockley also called Pring-Wilson a “humanitarian” who “loves people.”

Denner said his client has “a great interest in the law of developing nations and is interested in some careers of public service.”

Pring-Wilson works part-time at the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS), a nonprofit Harvard center in Cambridge.

Professor of Government Carol R. Saivetz who worked with Pring-Wilson in her capacity as executive director of AAASS, described Pring-Wilson as “a really, all-around good kid” who was “anxious to go back home to do his law degree.”

“I think all the people who know him are just shocked at the circumstances,” Saivetz said.

University spokesperson John Lenger said that the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences “is monitoring the situation,” but declined to comment on the status of Pring-Wilson’s pending master’s degree.

The Victim

Colono’s family too said they were struggling to make sense of Saturday morning’s tragic events.

His brother said that he knew no details of the incident.

According to his brother, Colono grew up in Cambridge where he attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.