An 18-year-old girl died after being found stabbed multiple times outside a New York park Wednesday evening, police said.
The victim, Barnard college student Tessa Majors, was discovered near West 116th Street and Morningside Drive about 5:30 p.m., cops said.
The freshman was walking down a set of steps to the park in that area when she was approached by a group of men who tried to rob her and then stabbed her repeatedly in the stomach, the New York Daily News reported.
Emergency responders found Majors unconscious and rushed her to a nearby hospital, but she could not be saved, authorities said.
An uncharged cellphone, closed knife and woman’s hat were found on the stairs near where Majors collapsed, according to ABC7.
“She just shouldn’t have been there," Majors' grandmother, Martha Burton, told the News.
“I guess being from a smaller town, she was too naive to think about walking alone in New York City,” she said.
In a letter to the Barnard community, the college's president, Sian Leah Beilock, called the slaying an “unthinkable tragedy.”
“Tessa was just beginning her journey at Barnard and in life. We mourn this devastating murder of an extraordinary young woman and member of our community,” Beilock wrote.
Majors' parents were on their way to New York, while the Counseling Center on campus would be open to all who need it, her letter read.
"We are also in close touch with the New York Police Department as they conduct this on-going investigation and seek to identify the assailant in this horrible attack," Beilock continued.
Police said no arrests have been made in the case and the investigation is ongoing.
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