Schools

Mercy College Community Mourns Untimely Loss of Student

Megan Bookstaver, 23, has been identified as the woman who was fatally shot in Tarrytown 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 to death in Tarrytown on Labor Day.


"The entire Mercy College community is saddened to hear of the death of Mercy College student, Megan Bookstaver," the 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 apparently in the fourth floor bedroom of a luxury riverfront townhouse in Tarrytown's Hudson Harbor complex with two other unnamed people.

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

Police said Bookstaver was shot in the head and declared dead Monday evening.

Though no arrest has been made, suspects identified, or even a homicide either accidental or intentional declared, Westchester County District Attorney office spokesman Lucian Chalfen said that his office will go to any death scene "unless it’s an obvious suicide."

Investigators are continuing to investigate the death, which they have deemed "suspicious."

Related:
Long Island 23-Year-old Dies from Gunshot to Head in Tarrytown
23-Year-old Woman Found Dead in Tarrytown Townhouse
Shooting at Tarrytown's Hudson Harbor Monday


Krista Madsen contributed to this report.


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