As family and friends mourn the death of Ithaca College sophomore Anthony Nazaire, who was fatally stabbed outside a party at Cornell University on Sunday morning, police are working to determine what led to Ithaca's first murder in five years. According to Nazaire's older sister, the stabbing may have been sparked after the Nazaire's friend accidentally bumped into a young woman on campus.

"[He] was with his friend [Raheim Williams], his friend bumped a girl by accident and he apologized," Kiara Nazaire told the Daily News. "The both of them apologized—even my brother apologized, he didn't bump the girl." Williams was also stabbed during the fight—Williams was airlifted to the SUNY Upstate University Hospital, where he was treated for multiple stab wounds.

It's still unclear how a minor mistake developed into a full-blown brawl, but witnesses say the fight escalated quickly. Trevon Hanks, a 22-year-old student at Tompkins Cortland Community College told the News that he saw a person "covered in blood" on the ground during the fight.

Ithaca Police said that surveillance footage from the fight shows multiple witnesses recording the altercation on their phones. "If you witnessed it, if you were in the area, even if it's small or minor to you, it might help us crack open the case," Ithaca PD's Public Information Officer Jamie Williamson told Pix11. Officers recovered a weapon from the scene but did not specify what type of weapon was used in the stabbings, Ithaca.com reports.

Students of both universities were shocked by the events. "This is a campus we all see as a safe place and home," Cornell junior Alex Maisel said. Nazaire's family and friends are even more shaken by the tragedy.

"You take your kid out a neighborhood and you do your best to send him to a good proper college and he comes back in a body bag?" his mother, Katia Toussaint, told the Post.

Those closest to Nazaire describe him as a serious student who was studying business administration and was an executive board member of Brothers4Brothers, a student organization dedicated to empowering men of color. He was the first member of his family to graduate high school and attend college.

"He's never been in trouble with the law. He's a very good student," his cousin Channelle Nazaire told the Ithaca Voice. "I just wanted to go to your graduation. I'm going to your funeral instead" she wrote in a series of Facebook posts, where she also posted pictures of business cards the teenager had printed in preparation for his sophomore year.

"This is a 19-year-old educated, well-mannered young man.... how could you rob him of his life, how could you do this to us?" Channelle Nazaire wrote.

Nazaire's family held a vigil for him outside the building where he grew up on Newkirk Avenue in Flatbush. A vigil is also planned for today at the Ithaca College campus. Authorities are urging anyone with information about the crime to contact Ithaca PD 607-272-3245 or Cornell Police at 607-255-1111.