2 JEWISH STUDENTS GUNNED DOWN AT ARIZONA STATE UNIV.

Two Jewish students gunned down (JTA)
Communities in New York, Arizona and Maryland were reeling after two Jewish college sophomores were gunned down at Arizona State University.

Carol Kestenbaum and Nicole Schiffman, both from Long Island, had been best friends since high school and were out celebrating Kestenbaum’s 20th birthday at ASU, where the Bellmore resident was an education major. Schiffman, of Merrick, had flown to Tempe from Maryland, where she was a journalism student at the University of Maryland.

According to reports, the two women returned to Kestenbaum’s apartment at an off-campus complex just after 4 a.m. on Feb. 18. Joshua Mendel, 22, had been waiting for them in the parking lot for hours with two loaded weapons. He was upset that Kestenbaum had warned his girlfriend, Alexandra Wake, 19, to stop seeing him.

According to police, Mendel fired on the two women without warning, shooting Kestenbaum in the head and Schiffman in the back as she tried to run. Mendel walked away from the bodies, then shot himself.

Police said Mendel was a student at nearby Collins College, a graphic design school. It’s not known if he was Jewish.

The three bodies were found in a line, with Mendel about 15 feet away from the women.
Kestenbaum and Mendel were pronounced dead at the scene. Schiffman died about an hour after the shooting at a nearby hospital.