Correction: A previous version of this story indicated the victim was 20 years old. He was 19.
Photo provided by family.
ITHACA, N.Y. — A 19-year-old Ithaca College student who was stabbed to death in an early Sunday morning brawl in front of Ho Plaza at Cornell University has been identified.
Anthony Nazaire, 19, was an Ithaca College sophomore from Brooklyn who's just returned to the area after spending the summer with his family, his cousin Channelle Nazaire said.
Nazaire lived with his mother and 24-year-old sister in the Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn. He is also survived by two younger brothers, a younger sister, his father, and a large family with Hatian roots, she said.
He was studying business administration at the college.
"He's never been in trouble with the law. He's a very good student," she said. "It's very hard for me to even understand. I'm still in denial about it."
She said her cousin was on the "perfect track" toward making his life better. He went to Ithaca College with hopes of becoming an entrepreneur to help his family.
She said that, in particular, his eight-year-old cousin looked up to him as the kind of man to aspire to be like.
"He's really, really a great kid," she said.
Channelle Nazaire said her cousin was a big gamer, who played a lot of PlayStation 4 games, like 'Call of Duty' and 'NBA 2K."
When she thinks about him, one memory especially stands out.
Last year, he sent her a brief video of himself walking to class wearing a suit. He had to give a formal presentation in one of his classes. He told her in the video that is was a sneak peek of what his life was going to be like in the future -- him dressed up, going to business meetings.
She said their family is asking anyone with photos or video of what happened last night to contact police.
"Help us find out who did this," she said in a message.
This is a developing story.
Correction: A first version of this story stated that Anthony Nazaire worked at Coney Island this summer. That was incorrect. He worked at Coney Island in 2015.
