PLACENTIA, Calif. – Students arriving to school in Orange County walked into a high school classroom and found their teacher hanging from the ceiling, police said.

Jillian Jacobson, 31, of Anaheim was found hanging from the ceiling at El Dorado High School at 1651 Valencia Avenue in Placentia Monday morning.

Officials told the L.A. Times that when firefighters arrived to the school, they found the teacher on the ground. Students and other teachers had placed her on the floor inside a classroom, said Capt. Steve Concialdi of the Orange County Fire Authority.

Paramedics tried but were unable to revive her. She died inside the classroom, he said.

Jacobson was a photography teacher who had been at the school about 10 years, Point told KTLA. Her husband had been notified of her death, he said.

The door was locked when students arrived for their first-period class, and after another teacher came to let them in, the teens discovered their teacher, the lieutenant said.

An initial investigation indicated the teacher had killed herself, according to Point. No note was left and detectives were not sure why she had committed suicide.

Jacobson was a popular teacher who had close friends among the faculty, Point said.

Some students on campus were distraught.

“It’s sad for the students and fellow teachers who witnessed that,” Concialdi said.

An autopsy was expected to take place later in the week, according to a press release on the Orange County coroner’s website. She was found in Room 902, and her death was believed to have occurred at 12:45 a.m., the coroner’s post stated.

There was an “emergency medical situation” involving a teacher at the school, Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Kevin Lee said earlier Monday. Students were safe and officials were working to release students early, Lee said.

Counselors were at the school, campus officials on scene said.

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