Boston Police Say Emerson College Student Daniel Hollis' Death Was A Homicide

BOSTON (CBS) - Boston Police are looking for help finding the people involved in the fight that eventually led to the death of Emerson College student Daniel Hollis.

According to his family, the 19-year-old sophomore was leaving a party early Saturday morning with his friends when a group of young men confronted them and got into a scuffle on Park Vale Avenue in Brighton.

When police arrived, they found Hollis on the ground suffering from a head injury. He had surgery for a blood clot on his brain, but he died Wednesday. There have been no arrests in the case but police are now calling Hollis a homicide victim.

"The Boston Police Department continues to actively review the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident," police said in a statement Thursday, shortly before Emerson College held an afternoon vigil for Hollis. His family did not attend.

However, in a statement Thursday they said they continued "to be overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and well wishes from those who knew Dan or knew of him."

"Our family will hold services and a celebration of Dan's incredible life next weekend. We will provide details as they become available. In the meantime, we know many of you are holding impromptu gatherings and sharing stories of Dan and his antics. We ask that you find comfort in one another and the happy memories. We will gather formally in a little over a week's time. Thank you for respecting our privacy and our wishes," they wrote.

Hollis was a marketing communications major and a goalie on Emerson's lacrosse team. He was from Mendon and graduated from Hopedale High School.

"To have his journey of becoming a person cut short is something that fills all of our hearts with grief," said Emerson College President M. Lee Pelton. "He was a young man chock full of life, he loved life and life loved him."

Hollis's classmates were stricken with grief at the vigil.

"He was the type of kid who could walk into a dark room and light it up instantly," said Sophomore Jared Haines.

But Students said the vigil helped them come to terms with what happened.

"Of course nothing can stop what happened, nothing can stop the grief, but it helped a lot, it really did," said Sophomore Aaron Miller.

Hollis's former Hopedale High School lacrosse coach and teammates joined the Emerson community for the service.

" I found myself in there going if Dan was here at that event, he would've spend the whole time making sure everyone else felt alright."

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help raise money for the family.

Anyone with information about the incident should call Boston Police at (617) 343-4470.