NEW YORK – A Columbia University doctoral candidate was stabbed to death and a tourist was injured near a New York City park Thursday night in what police say were random attacks.
The suspect was caught threatening a third victim with the kitchen knife used in the attacks, but that victim was not injured, police said. That person, who is believed to be a 25-year-old man with an extensive criminal history, according to police sources, is in custody, although details of a possible motive were not released.
However, early Friday morning the university student was identified as Davide Giri.
In a letter to engineering students, Columbia University wrote of its “tremendous grief” over the loss of the 30-year-old computer science Ph.D. student who was stabbed in the rib cage with a kitchen knife while walking through the Morningside Park area, near 123rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, around 11pm Thursday.
According to Columbia, Giri worked on system-level design architectures and methodologies for heterogeneous systems-on-chip, with a particular focus on hardware accelerators. He won Columbia’s Andrew P. Kosoresow Memorial Award for excellence in teaching and service in 2018, the university said.
Giri earned his Master’s of Philosophy in Computer Science from Columbia in 2020 and his Master’s, the standard master’s qualification for courses taught in science and technology subjects, in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2015. He also earned degrees in Shanghai and Italy and is the co-author of several publications, according to his Columbia University biography.
“When we lose a member of our community, we are all affected. Regardless of whether you are near or far from campus, remember that Columbia resources are always available to support you or your friends,” the letter reads. that Columbia sent to students: “It is especially important in terrible times like these that we all get close to each other.
“Please take care of yourself and those around you. We know that everyone is joining us in sending our deepest condolences to Davide’s family and friends and we ask that they remember them in the days to come,” he continued.
New York police officers investigating Giri’s stabbing encountered a second victim, a 27-year-old tourist who was stabbed in the stomach near West 110th Street and Cathedral Parkway. That tourist was able to give authorities a description of the suspect, and the suspect was detained inside Central Park while threatening another potential victim, a 29-year-old man, with a large kitchen knife, police said.
The 29-year-old was not injured and the tourist is expected to be well.
Our sister station NBC 4 New York revealed that the suspect in the case has five prior arrests, including charges of conspiracy, assault with intent to cause physical injury, and gang assault. He was currently on probation in connection with a gang robbery and has no history of emotional disturbances, law enforcement sources say.
Charges for the Manhattan attacks are expected to be filed later Friday and police say their investigation is ongoing.
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