ZELIENOPLE — Residents here were saddened and incredulous Tuesday that the mass shooting in the nation’s capital hit the borough as well.

Former borough resident Frank Kohler, 50, was one of the dozen people who died in the shooting rampage at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

Kohler of Tall Timbers, Md., was a Seneca Valley High School graduate and a 1985 Slippery Rock University graduate with a bachelor’s degree. He majored in computer science.

He transferred to SRU in 1983 and commuted from Zelienople.

He graduated from SRU in 1985. His wife, Michelle, graduated from SRU in 1986.

Kohler’s older brother, Harvey Kohler, is the electric superintendent for Zelienople. He and his wife are in Maryland with his brother’s family and other relatives, said borough manager Don Pepe.

Frank Koehler was the youngest of five siblings. Besides Harvey, the others are Peggy Kohler, Patty Grubbs and Carolyn Huttinger.

Joe Maddalon of Maddalon Jewelers said when Kohler would visit his hometown, he always brought his wife’s rings in to be cleaned. Harvey Kohler is Maddalon’s neighbor, and their sons played baseball together.

“They’re a great family,” Maddalon said of the Kohlers, many of whom still live in the Zelienople area. “This really hurts. I feel terrible for his family.”

Maddalon said Kohler has lived in the Washington, D.C., area for several years.

Maddalon’s son David recalled hearing the news.

“I got goose bumps,” the younger Maddalon said. “It really hit home. It’s senseless, and it could happen to anyone at any time. Here we are talking about a tragedy in Washington, D.C., and it’s affecting us in Zelienople.”

Drew Mathew of Mathew Jewelers is acquainted with a few of Kohler’s older siblings and knew his father, Ray, who served on the volunteer fire department with Mathew.

“And Frank was a very good swimmer,” Mathew said. “He swam for Seneca Valley.”

“My heart goes out to (the Kohler family,)” Mathew said. “I’ll certainly keep them in my prayers.”

Whitey Boehm of Whitey’s General Store and Clothing did not know Kohler, but was sickened that the Navy shooting had a hometown victim.

“I feel terrible it happened to someone in Zelienople,” Boehm said. “Our prayers are with the family.”

Mary Greene, a driver for Mussig Florist, said she was saddened when she heard a victim of the senseless killings was from her hometown.

“Everyone here just thinks it’s such a shame,” Greene said. “Our prayers go out to his family, and all the families.”

Kohler was killed by Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old information technology employee with a defense contractor. He used a valid pass to get into the highly secure installation Monday morning and started firing inside a building.

He was killed in a gunbattle with police.

Jack Pappas is president of the Lexington Park Rotary Club, the same club Kohler belonged to and where he was president several years ago.

Pappas said he and the rest of the community are still reeling from shock over the news that Kohler was one of the victims.

“It affects the whole community,” Pappas said. “We’re not that big of a community, a place where people know each other. And Frank was very active in our community.”

The president said his Rotary Club is in the early stages of organizing a fundraiser or other event to benefit Kohler’s wife and two daughters.

Pappas said the club has more than 100 members.

“He was a gifted leader and a hard worker,’’ said John Rymer, a friend who met Kohler through the Rotary Club of Lexington Park told The Washington Post. “Most of us are retired and Frank had a full-time job, but he spent so much time doing community service.”

Kohler was the president of the club in 2005, leading a campaign to donate a dictionary to every third grader in St. Mary’s County, according to the Post.

He and his wife were constant fixtures at the King’s Christian Academy, where their two daughters attended school, according to the Post.

The daughters now attend Liberty University.

Kohler had driven to the Washington Navy Yard for a meeting Monday when the shootings occurred,

Koehler most recently worked for Information Concepts in Management, a subcontractor for the systems integration company, TWD & Associates of Arlington, Va.

A spokesman for TWD said Koehler had been on a project at the Navy Yard for nearly two years.

Kohler’s family in Zelienople declined to comment for this report.