The Ithaca Police Department says it has determined that the stabbing incident on Wednesday night was “not a random act of violence,” and the victim and suspects knew each other.
So far, IPD says no evidence suggests that this stabbing was related to the homicide that resulted in the death of Ithaca College student Anthony Nazaire, who was killed in front of Olin Hall exactly a month ago, on Aug. 28.
“The two incidents genuinely appear to be unrelated to each other,” Chief of Police John R. Barber in an IPD press release. Although it has been a month, police have not released the names of any suspects or made any additional information public in the Nazaire case.
Last night’s altercation occurred at at approximately 7:41 p.m. at 418 Stewart Avenue when the victim — a 27 year old Dryden Resident unaffiliated with Cornell University — noticed people removing contents from his vehicle. When he attempted to intervene, the victim suffered a knife wound to the leg and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Witnesses described the perpetrators as two black males — one possibly wearing a red shirt and the other with a “man bun.” The subjects fled the scene toward the cemetery in the direction of West Campus, and one may have been carrying a semi-automatic handgun.
The Ithaca Police Department say “at this very moment” they are “tracking down leads in the pursuit of justice.”