Colleagues,  students and friends gathered early Tuesday for a tear-stained memorial for a teacher who apparently committed suicide following his arrest for having a relationship with young student.

At 7:30 a.m. vigil, , 6th grade teacher James Izumizaki, 28, was remembered as a dedicated teacher as the community wrestled with a mixture of emotions of his apparent suicide.

“Today is a very tragic day,” said Fran Sheppard, who taught at Albany Middle School with Izumizaki. “We are mostly deeply sadden from James’ family…For his parents and for his brother...We are here to support their students and their grieving…Our staff has lost a dear friend.”

Stan Tamaki was among those who showed up outside Albany Middle School to pay tribute to Izumizaki.

Tamaki, 55, said he has three daughters who have had Izumizaki as a teacher, and that he cares about him as if he were family.

He called the death "mind-boggling" and said he thinks Izumizaki was under too much pressure because of the allegation he was facing.

"I guess he thought he was going to lose everything," Tamaki said.

Izumizaki's body was reportedly found after someone, possibly a family member, called into the Alameda County Sheriff's Department around 10:30 a..m. Monday and told them a body was sitting in a car on Via Alamitos in San Lorenzo, according to sheriff's spokesman J.D. Nelson.

Deputies responded and found the vehicle with Izumizaki's body inside.

Nelson said that, based on the nature of the death and a note that was left, it appeared that Izumizaki took his own life.

Police arrested Izumizaki at his Albany residence shortly after 7 a.m. on Sept. 27.

The arrest warrant was the result of an investigation into reports that Izumizaki, who has been employed as a teacher and coach at Albany Middle School for several years, had an inappropriate relationship with a former student.

Izumizaki was booked into Santa Rita Jail and was later released on $100,000 bail.

Stephenson said at a media briefing the next morning that Izumizaki began working for the district in 2007 as a long-term substitute teacher.

He was hired as a sixth-grade teacher in 2008. Stephenson said Izumizaki was very involved in the school, participating in a student government program and coaching seventh-grade volleyball and eighth-grade boys' basketball.

Izumizaki's Facebook page lists several current Albany Middle School students as among his social networking contacts.

Stephenson said she learned of the alleged misconduct on that Monday, and that the school district contacted Child Protective Services and Albany police. Izumizaki was placed on leave that afternoon.

"At that point in time, I felt that there was enough information to put that teacher on leave," she said.

On the night that Izumizaki's body was found, a make-shift memorial was put together outside of Albany Middle School that consisted of flowers, a candle and note that read, “This is not the ending he deserved."

"It's kind of tragic, but then it's like we don’t know what to say about it," said Lamar Waters, an Albany Middle School parent.