By LYDIA WARREN
A Hofstra University sorority girl has been shot dead after a masked, armed intruder forced his way into the home she shared with her twin sister and college friends. The victim, identified by friends as 21-year-old Andrea Rebello, was at the home on Long Island, New York with two other girls - including her sister Jessica - and a male when the tragedy occurred at 2.30am on Friday. The suspect, who has not been named, was also shot dead at the home during gunfire from police. The man had knocked on the door of the home on California Avenue - which is just a block from the university campus - at 2.20am and then forced his way inside, police said on Friday morning.
The suspect, who was not a student at the university, was armed with a handgun and wearing a ski mask. He then headed to the second floor and held the residents hostage, according to reports. He allowed one of the women to leave the home to withdraw money from an ATM and she called 911, Nassau County Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lack told NBC New York. She told the 911 dispatcher that the intruder had a silver handgun pointed at her friend's head in a second-floor bedroom, NBC reported. She added that there were multiple hostages. The dispatcher passed the information to police and less than a minute later, Nassau County police officers reached the home.
When they arrived, shots went off. Lack said it is not clear who fired, and said he could not comment on whether the girl died from gun shots fired by the suspect or by the police. It is unknown at this time whether her twin sister witnessed the killing. 'We don't know [the suspect's] motive at this time but it appears to be a robbery,' Chief Rick Capece said in a press conference on Friday. One of the victim's friends told NBC that she was a member of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority and lived with six of her sorority sisters at the home. Students flocked to Twitter to express their grief at the killing, with many writing 'R.I.P' messages to Andrea and sending her twin sister their best wishes and prayers.
Police confirmed that her sister had remained in the home while the other girl was allowed outside. Andrea, a junior at Hofstra studying Public Relations and Sociology, grew up in Westchester, New York, according to her blog. 'I'm 100% Portuguese and have an identical twin sister so I guess that makes me kind of unique?' she wrote in the bio. Photographs on her Facebook page show the girl as a popular student who enjoyed hanging out with friends and her twin sister, while her blog documents her cooking hobby. Authorities said that the twin sister is now with their family.
Police added that the unnamed male hostage is from Brooklyn, and the other female victim who escaped the home is from Connecticut. Victoria Dehel, who lives four houses away, said she had heard what sounded like fighting coming from the home. She ignored it as first, believing it was rowdy students coming home from a bar. But then 'this girl was shrieking,' she said, and loud bangs followed just seconds later. 'It didn’t sound good at all,' Dehel said. 'I turned to my boyfriend and I said, "I think someone just got murdered." It was awful.' Neighbors told CBS New York that they heard cries for help from the home. 'I came home last night ten minutes before it happened and I heard screams,' one woman said. 'I ran outside and police officers were like, "go back inside your house, go back inside your house".'
On Friday morning, Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz released a statement condemning the shooting as a 'senseless act of violence'. 'The Nassau County Police have notified us that early this morning a Hofstra student was killed during a tragic crime which took place in a rental house off campus,' the statement read. 'The police investigation is ongoing, and we do not yet know all of the relevant details. What we do know is that a young member of the Hofstra family has been taken from us in a senseless act of violence.' Friday is the last day of exams for students at the university and graduation is being held on Sunday, but Rabinowitz added that the ceremonies would go ahead as scheduled.
'The accomplishments of our graduates must be recognized, and together our community will heal and find the strength to move forward,' he said.
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