Time.news – He was walking back to the Columbia campus after training with his soccer team, NY International Fc, where he played as a defender, when Davide Giri found his killer.
One block from Morningside Park, where an 18-year-old student was killed in December 2019, Tessa Majors, Giri, 30, PhD student at Columbia with a long list of prestigious masters from all over the world, from Politecnico di Torino to Shanghai , was stabbed in the abdomen by a person who then fled on foot.
According to an initial police reconstruction, Giri managed to crawl along the street, looking for help, before he passed out, at the corner of 123 Street and Amsterdam Avenue, south of Harlem. Taken to nearby Mount Sinai Saint Luke’s Hospital, the man died shortly after.
According to the police, the killer is Vincent Pinkney, a 25-year-old African American, eleven previous years for robbery and assault, on probation, a member of a criminal gang called EveryBody Killer. Pinkney was recognized by the witness of a second assault, which took place not far and a quarter of an hour after the one in Giri. Also in this case the victim is Italian: it is a tourist who arrived in New York a few days ago, Robert Malastina, 27 years old.
Malastina was stabbed in the back as she walked the corner of 110 Street and Cathedral Parkway, where the Italian restaurant ‘Giovannie’s’ is located. Admitted to hospital, he would be in “stable condition”, but not life threatening. The two Italians may have been chosen at random in a robbery attempt that ended badly.
Columbia University president Lee Bollinger spoke of “inexplicably sad and deeply upsetting news.” Giri had lived on campus for years with the other students. The club where he played football remembered him with a post on Facebook, accompanied by photos taken during the matches.
“There are no words to describe what we are feeling – they write – the other night, after training and while he was headed home, our partner and pillar of the club, Davide Giri, was stabbed to death”.
“Davide – they continue – was the most beautiful and brilliant person on the team. He had seen Italy win the European Championships, Inter win the Scudetto back home, and he had been a great protagonist of our successes in recent years”. “We love you, friend – they conclude – you were the rock of defense and we will play and win for you, because that’s what you wanted. A lion never dies, he falls asleep. ”
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