Schools

Mercy College Community Mourns Untimely Loss of Student

Megan Bookstaver, 23, of Long Island, a student at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, was shot to death in Tarrytown on Monday.

As students head back to the dormitories and classrooms, Mercy College's fall semester will begin without Megan Bookstaver, the 23-year-old student who was fatally shot in Tarrytown on Labor Day.

"The entire Mercy College community is saddened to hear of the death of Mercy College student, Megan Bookstaver," the private college said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this difficult time."

According to Bookstaver's Google+ profile, she was employed at Woodbury Road Animal Hospital, based in Plainview, NY. Tarrytown Police said she was a resident of Hicksville, NY.

Bookstaver was apparently in the fourth floor bedroom of a luxury riverfront townhouse in Tarrytown's Hudson Harbor complex with two other unnamed people when she got shot in the head.

"They were examining firearms when one was discharged," Tarrytown Lt. William Herguth said.

Bookstaver was declared dead Monday afternoon upon police arrival at the scene, a death they are labeling "suspicious" and still investigating.

Editor Sarah Studley contributed to this report.


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