UPDATED 12:13 p.m. Wednesday: Prayer service held for slain Ferrum student Jess Goode

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to reflect the following clarification. Kimberly Boudinot, the stepmother of Regis Boudinot, said he and two students were collecting frogs for a biology class Tuesday afternoon. The information was incorrectly attributed to a college spokeswoman.

One Ferrum College student was killed and another injured about 4 p.m. Tuesday by a hunter who apparently mistook them for deer, authorities said.

Three students were collecting frogs for a biology class along a Franklin County-owned trail about a mile west of campus when one of them, a female, was fatally shot in the chest and another, a male, was shot in the hand, authorities said.

Authorities did not release the names of the victims Monday night.

Jason David Cloutier, 31, of Ferrum was charged with manslaughter, reckless handling of a firearm and trespassing, said Sgt. Karl Martin, district supervisor of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Kimberly Boudinot said over the phone from her home in Irvington, near the Chesapeake Bay, that her stepson Regis Boudinot, 20, a junior at the college, was shot in the hand. She said a bullet had struck the female student, and then entered Regis' right arm before exiting through his hand.

She said her stepson was being operated on at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital late Tuesday for what appeared to be an injury that was not life-threatening.

"Our hearts and prayers are with the family of the girl who was killed as well as the man who was involved in the accident," Kimberly Boudinot said.

The college sent an alert to students shortly after 5 p.m. saying there was no danger to the campus community, and by 7:30 p.m. college President Jennifer Braaten had sent an e-mail to the community confirming the death.

"We ask for everyone's prayers for the families affected by this terrible event," Braaten wrote. "The College community is in mourning over the loss of a beloved member of our Ferrum family."

While authorities had not released the identity of the student who died, many in the roughly 1,400-student college were already mourning the loss Tuesday night. Some visited counselors at the campus chapel; others cried and hugged each other, said Sam Catron, president of the Student Government Association.

"People have come together not just as a school, but as a family," Catron said. "This incident affected not only the parties involved, but it affected Ferrum, and it affected Franklin County."

Catron said the reaction was a stark contrast to the sentiments of anger some felt in mid-October when students were victims in another off-campus shooting. Two students were shot in a fight over a woman. They were treated and released from a local hospital while authorities sought a suspect.

"Last month there was more anger because that was on purpose," Catron said. "Now this is just an accident, and people are just shocked."

A prayer service was scheduled for 10 a.m. today at Vaughn Chapel, and classes during that hour have been canceled, college spokeswoman Natalie Faunce said.