“We’re up against a rapidly ticking clock in terms of identifying potential witnesses,” said Baton Rouge Police Department Sgt. Don Kelly, a spokesman for the law enforcement task force investigating the Thursday night killings of the two students.

Police patrols were stepped up near the Edward Gay apartments at the edge of the campus where Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma, 31, a biochemistry student from Kurnool, and Kiran Kumar Allam, 33, a chemistry student from Hyderabad, were shot in the head in a home invasion. Officers on Saturday walked nearby streets, knocking on doors and asking people for any information they may have about the killings, Kelly said.

The investigation focused on three black men who police said were seen late Thursday hurriedly leaving from the apartment complex where Allam lived and the shootings occurred. Police also searched for information about a possible fourth suspect, who they believe drove a getaway car.

But police had no real description of the men, other than to say they are young.

“That’s the best information we have at this time. It’s still very early in the investigation, and other leads may come forward,” Kelly said.

Many students had finished their finals and left campus before the killings. But by Saturday, with lingering exams completed, much of the 28,000-student campus began to shut down for the holidays.

Indian Embassy officials arrived in Baton Rouge on Saturday to offer assistance, including help with arranging the burials of the two men, Kelly said.

New details were scarce. There was no forced entry, and while some items were missing from the apartment, Kelly said it was too early to consider it an armed robbery.

“We have not established a motive ... All we know was there was a double murder,” he said.

The killing was the first on the LSU campus in a decade.

In Hyderabad, India, Allam’s grief-stricken father said Saturday that his son sounded happy when they spoke earlier this week.

“It’s unbelievable that my son is no more,” Rajaiah Allam said before boarding a flight to the U.S., where his wife and two daughters were already visiting the student.

Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma recently told his family that he was getting job offers, and also had recently married, said his brother K. Srinivas Reddy.

“Heavens have fallen on us. We never thought that such a tragedy is in store for us when everything looked so bright and promising,” Srinivas Reddy said.

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