A woman is in custody in connection with the killings of two NYU business students who were shot in Puerto Rico while apparently on a birthday celebration trip this past weekend, authorities said Tuesday.
Police say the woman, who has not been identified, negotiated with police and turned herself into authorities. They say she has a criminal record that includes violent crimes, though didn't detail specifics. It wasn't clear if the woman in custody Tuesday was the woman seen on surveillance video firing a gun in the vicinity of the students on Saturday.
She covered her face and kept her head down as she walked by reporters in Puerto Rico on her way into the station. Her name hasn't been released.
Franco Medina Angulo and Sergio Palomino Ruiz, both Stern School of Business students from Peru, had traveled to Puerto Rico with other classmates on a brief holiday, the university said in a statement. The friends were caught in the crossfire between two other groups of people whom they didn't know outside a nightclub in San Juan.
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NYU students say the entire campus community has been affected by the sudden loss -- even though who didn't know Angulo or Ruiz personally.
"They're someone you had classes with ... that happens like right there ... that's like, 'Wow, it really kind of hits home,'" one student said.
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“The NYU community is brokenhearted and shocked by the deaths of two MBA students in Puerto Rico, victims of senseless, tragic gunfire," NYU Spokesperson John Beckman said in a statement.
NYU will have counseling services available to students who were in the same program and any friends of the victims. The school said there will be a candlelight vigil for Angulo and Ruiz on Thursday.
"The University has been in touch with the remaining group members to offer them support and aid; none of the others were injured. NYU has also reached out to the families of the slain students to provide whatever assistance we can and to express the sympathies of the University community," Beckman added.
A dean for the Stern School of Business said that a scholarship would be established in each of Angulo and Ruiz's names.
A GoFundMe set up to support the victims' families had raised more than $45,000 by Tuesday morning.
Three other people suffered minor injuries in the shooting.
