BOSTON -- Friends and family are mourning the death of a 21-year-old Emerson College student who died Thursday, hours after she was shot by a Boston Police Department pellet gun.

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Jim Morelli Reports On Police Probe Less-Than-Lethal Weapons

Newscenter 5's Jim Morelli reported that police are investigating the death of East Bridgewater, Mass., student Victoria Snelgrove, and their efforts at crowd control during post-game rioting following the Red Sox win over the Yankees Wednesday night.

"She loved the Red Sox, she went in [to town] to celebrate with friends, she was a bystander," said Snelgrove's father, Richard.

Victoria Snelgrove was a bystander in a crowed that authorities estimated numbered between 60,000 and 80,000 people. The mob poured into the streets around Fenway Park and Kenmore Square after the American League Championship Series game, some revelers setting fires and vandalizing cars and stores.

Police clad in riot gear used batons and the law enforcement equivalent of paintball guns to disburse rowdy revelers. Snelgrove was hit in the eye by one of the projectiles and it killed her. It was the second time this year that a young person was killed in post-game rioting in downtown Boston. Another student was run over by a car during rioting that followed the Patriots' 2004 Super Bowl win.

"What happened to her should not happen to any American citizen going to any type of game, no matter what," Richard Snelgrove said.

Now police officials are faced with the question of how a crowd control device considered "less lethal" and not even classified as a firearm could end a girl's life.

"The Boston Police Department is devastated by this tragedy. This terrible event should never have happened," police Comissioner Kathleen O' Toole said.

"It appears from evidence we have reviewed thus far that Tori was killed when she was hit in the eye by a projectile fired as officers tried to control mobs outside the ballpark," O'Toole said. "Designated officers were equipped with less-lethal systems that use projectiles designed to break upon impact, dousing the target with (pepper-like) spray."

She and Mayor Tom Menino extended condolences to Snelgrove's family while at the same time condemning the violence that led to the rioting.

"Where's the personal responsibility of these students? Don't they have any sense of their responsibility?" Menino said.

Two young men who were arrested trying to scale the Green Monster wall at Fenway Park said police overstepped their boundaries. One said he was shot three times by police as he tried to scale the wall.

"Before I even knew the police were there, there was stuff whizzing by my ear," Brett Schweinber said.

"I really feel this was due to an over-aggressive police presence. I mean nothing should warrant getting shot in the face," Christopher Lowe said.

Emerson College canceled classes Friday in memory of Snelgrove and Menino said he will be meeting with barkeepers and innkeepers in the Fenway Park area to work on crowd control measures for the World Series games.

Red Sox players are now creating public service announcements for the World Series telling young fans that violence is not the way to celebrate the team's success.