A Columbian grad student cried for help after being stabbed to death in Morningside Park in New York City by a reputed gang member.
Davide Giri, 30, exclaimed “Help, I have been stabbed!” as he stumbled off after being fatally knifed in the gut and died shortly thereafter, a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court revealed.
The dramatic details of the unprovoked, violent homicide were revealed Sunday in the murder indictment of Vincent Pinkney, 25. Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. charged Pinkney with second-degree murder, first–degree assault, and attempted second–degree murder.
Chilling surveillance video shows Giri, who was from Italy, being approached from behind by a man wearing a red hoodie and stabbed in the Upper Manhattan park near Columbia’s campus shortly before 11 p.m. during a 20-minute rampage that also wounded another Italian man, the document says.
The school said that the injured victim had just arrived in the city as a “visiting scholar” at Columbia. Policed later recovered a knife from the pocket of the red hoodie defendant is wearing.
Doctors at St. Luke’s Medical Center, where Giri was pronounced dead said that he “sustained several stab wounds to the back and torso including one that punctured his internal organs. He suffered a stab wound that punctured his vena cava and caused him to die.”
A third victim alleged that they survived an attempted assault in which Pinkney brandished a knife, lunged repeatedly, and “nearly stabbed” them. During his rampage, Pinkney, who has a lengthy rap sheet, also threatened a couple walking their dog, authorities have said. The threatened man helped cops nab the suspect.
A police official said that a witness described the accused stabber as “jumping around — happy” after the attack. The source told The Post: “He told detectives he’d spent his time before the stabbings smoking weed.”
Witnesses told cops that the assailant ran into Central Park, where lawyer Gregory Johnson, 30, said that a man came up behind him and his girlfriend as they were walking his dog, Peanut, and swung a kitchen knife at him without saying a word.
Johnson yelled “f**k you” and the suspect yelled back “oh, f**k me?” Johnson said he and his girlfriend flagged down cops outside the park and helped track down Pinkney, who sources said was caught with a white-handled boning knife with a 6-inch blade.
Meanwhile, a second stabbing victim, Roberto Malaspina, 27, was discovered about a dozen blocks to the south of the location where Giri was attacked. He was taken to the same hospital and was in stable condition Friday, police said.
Pinkney was arrested in northern Central Park. He appeared into Manhattan Criminal Court with his hands cuffed and his legs shackled, wearing a white Tyvek suit to face Judge Neil Ross.
Throughout the proceeding, the reputed gang member did not say anything and looked subdued, his lawyer asked that Pinkney undergo a psych exam and be placed in protective custody. The judge agreed to both requests before remanding Pinkney to Riker’s Island.
Jorge Santos, Pinkney’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sources said that he is a member of the Everybody Killa Street Gang, who has 11 arrests dating to 2012 on a variety of charges.
He was convicted of gang assault in 2015 after he and three others brutally beat and slashed a man in Jamaica two years earlier. State records show that he served less than three years in state prison in that case.
New York International Football Club, an amateur soccer team, said that Giri was returning from one of its practices when he was stabbed. His team said that he was “the nicest and brightest person on the team” and vowed that “we will play and win for you because this is what you wanted.” On their Twitter account, they said that “You are a Legend, Davide. We Love You.”
University President Lee C. Bollinger said Giri’s passing was “unspeakably sad and deeply shocking, as it took place only steps from our campus” and urged students to seek support from professionals and one another.
The killing happened near the same park where Tessa majors, the first-year Barnard College student was killed two years ago. The Police said Majors, an undergraduate student, was stabbed in the park in December 2019 after she fought her teenage attackers.
A security video footage depicted her final moments as she staggered up a large set of stairs leading from Morningside Park towards the school seeking help. Luchiano Lewis, 16, pleaded guilty to murder and robbery charges and was sentenced to nine years to life in prison in October.
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