On the Barnard College campus students were shaken and visibly upset as they gathered at a vigil for Tessa Major.

“It’s just a terrifying tragic thing and it’s very uncomfortable, it’s just horrible,” said one student.

The 18-year-old freshman died after being stabbed repeatedly inside Morningside Park near the Barnard and Columbia University campuses.

“We can’t imagine what her family‘s is going through. I am personally a Columbia student but I’m always at Barnard. They are always at Columbia. It’s really a family so it’s just so heartbreaking,” said a Columbia student.

Police say Majors was walking through the park when she was attacked and stabbed by a group in apparent robbery. She collapsed after stumbling up these stairs to a security booth at 116th Street and Morningside Drive. A security guard found her at around 5:30pm Wednesday. At the booth there are several security cameras and police spent much of the day and night combing the park and the water here looking for evidence.

Officers plastered the neighborhood with reward posters.

“This shouldn’t have happened. She was a freshman. She was going to go home like next week finals were going to be over,” said another student.

Majors was a musician and writer who played in a band.

In a statement to the press her family said she was a light that shined brightly. Her death has also shaken the community at large.    

“What Tessa’s fatal stabbing and loss of life means, is that it could be any one of us,” said Iesha Sekou, Founder of Street Corner Resources

At Barnard, the school’s president told students in a letter “we are all grieving, and overwhelmed by the senseless tragedy that took Tess Majors from us. The letter also went on to say there will an increased NYPD presence around the campus. Something many students say is needed.

“There should be lights in the park. Genuinely there should be lights. There should be 24/7 security guards. Personally when I go to the park I almost never see a security guard,” one student said.

On Thursday night, students told us there were more than a dozen lights out at the park. Earlier in the day we saw someone changing some of the bulbs.