Connor Cummings, a 20-year-old college student from Rockaway, New Jersey, died Wednesday night after falling while taking photographs with a friend at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan, police said.

Cummings and his 18-year-old friend, neither of whom was a guest at the 52-story hotel, had accessed a restricted rooftop area and climbed scaffolding or catwalks to photograph the city skyline. Accounts differ on the circumstances and distance of the fall: one report said Cummings slipped on rain-wet scaffolding and fell nine stories through an interior shaft, while another, citing police sources, said he stepped off a rooftop catwalk while walking backward and fell about 25 feet. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The friend, identified as Dimitri Olivares in one report and Dimitri Oliveras in another, was questioned by police and released without charges. One account said he initially left the hotel before returning to alert security. Police recovered photography equipment, and the hotel said it was cooperating with the investigation.

Cummings’s aunt, Kate Gentile, said the family was seeking answers and described him as a photography enthusiast rather than a daredevil. Cummings was a sophomore psychology major at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he took photography courses and held a leadership role in the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. His fraternity remembered his passion for photography and his willingness to help others.

A graduate of Morris Knolls High School, Cummings was remembered by Principal Ryan MacNaughton as a fine student with a bright future. Friends and relatives also recalled his kindness and devotion to his interests. The hotel offered condolences to his family.