The Ithaca Police Department is leading the homicide investigation.
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“You’re talking about a very chaotic scene: a couple hundred people dispersing from the event, several large fights breaking out, at nighttime, 2 o’clock in the morning”, Williamson said. Two Ithaca College students were stabbed in the fight, Rochon said, including 19-year-old Anthony Nazaire.
Another student from Ithaca College is being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Police have not named any suspects in the stabbing, which followed a Saturday night party organized by Omega Psi Phi, a national fraternity of black men, at Willard Straight Hall as part of a series of events under the umbrella of Cornell’s Black Students United group.
Nazaire’s family held a vigil for him outside the building where he grew up on Newkirk Avenue in Flatbush. This, according to police officials will help them nab the people behind the stabbings soon.
They are asking witnesses with any video footage capturing the incident to come forward, reports CBS News.
The event’s goal is to encourage students to take advantage of opportunities off-campus, and to realize all that Ithaca has to offer, according to the press release.
Nazaire, a sophomore from Brooklyn, N.Y., was killed.
Nazaire attended the nearby school, Ithaca College, where he majored in business and pursued his dreams of being an entrepreneur.
Nazaire was a sophomore at the college who had just returned from spending the summer with his family, his cousin Channelle Nazaire told the Ithaca Voice.
“You know our officers and our investigators and the command staff here in the department, we work diligently to provide a safe community for residents, visitors, and students”, Williamson said. “For this to happen where we all go to class, where we all live, it’s a shock and it’s a tragedy for sure”.
“I hope you will hold these students – along with their families, friends, classmates, and professors – in your thoughts and prayers at this hard and tragic time”, Rochon’s statement said. Authorities are urging anyone with information about the crime to contact Ithaca PD 607-272-3245 or Cornell Police at 607-255-1111.
A stabbing occurred earlier this month in Collegetown less than 2000 feet from Sunday’s incident, also during a large fight. We are continuing to withhold that person’s name at the request of police.
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Sunday’s homicide is the first in the city of Ithaca since Francisco Santiago was shot on West Hill on December 1, 2011. In December 2015 he was sentenced to 22 years to life in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder.
