2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

BY JENNIFER SMITH AND REID J. EPSTEIN
[email protected], [email protected]

February 18, 2007, 11:24 PM EST

Two high school friends from Long Island were shot and killed early yesterday by a man who ambushed them in an Arizona parking lot after a birthday celebration, Tempe police said.

Carol Kestenbaum, 20, of Bellmore, an Arizona State University student, was coming home from celebrating her birthday with high school classmate Nicole Schiffman, 20, of Merrick, when they were gunned down by a Tempe man who then killed himself.

Police said that Joshua Mendel, 22, was enraged because Kestenbaum told his girlfriend, who was not identified, that she did not approve of him.

The two women were shot and killed in the parking lot of Kestenbaum's apartment complex in Tempe. Schiffman, a student at the University of Maryland in College Park, had flown in for the weekend to celebrate Kestenbaum's birthday, which was yesterday, police and the girls' families said.

The two women were 2005 graduates of John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore.

"I watch these on the news and it's always other people's children," Schiffman's father, Ronald, said last night at the family's home. "To do this because of jealousy? If he was going to kill himself, then why did he have to kill two other people first?"

There were no witnesses to the crime, police said, but when paramedics arrived on the scene, three bloody bodies lay almost in a row. Neighbors who called 911 beginning at 4:11 a.m. reported hearing gunshots, screams and breaking glass.

Police said Mendel, armed with two loaded guns and extra rounds of ammunition, appeared to have been waiting for Kestenbaum in the parking area of her gated apartment complex about six miles south of the ASU campus, which houses several hundred residents, many of them students. Mendel apparently confronted the two women when they returned home and got out of Kestenbaum's Mercedes.

"It appears that he shot Carol in the head, killing her immediately," said Sgt. Dan Masters, a spokesman for the Tempe police. Multiple shell casings were found around Kestenbaum's body, which was about 30 to 40 feet from her parked car.

Police said Schiffman was found a short distance away from Kestenbaum with multiple gunshot wounds to her torso and was rushed to a nearby hospital. She died at about 5:30 a.m. yesterday, Masters said.

Mendel's body was found about 10 feet away on the sidewalk of a common area. "We found a semi-automatic handgun ... and a holster on his waist," Masters said. "In the front pocket of his jeans we found a second loaded handgun and rounds of ammunition."

Mendel may have previously attended Arizona State, police said. Masters said that Kestenbaum was a "good friend" of Mendel's girlfriend, but that it was not clear why she disapproved of their relationship.

"But he obviously found out she didn't approve," he said.

Police believe the crime was premeditated, judging from the weapons found near Mendel's body and the testimony of a resident who encountered him in the parking area shortly before the shooting. The man told police that Mendel appeared nervous, and that the behavior made him so uncomfortable that he immediately returned to his apartment, police said. Masters said that Mendel, who has family in Illinois, had no previous local criminal record.

Last night, a woman at a Tempe address listed to Mendel said, "I don't want to comment. Everything's a mess right now."

Schiffman's father, a gun control supporter, said he was flying to Arizona to prevent authorities from doing an autopsy on his daughter, which he said would violate Jewish law.

"She was an angel," he said.

Friends of the victims were shocked by the brutal deaths of the two lively young women.

"She was just a fun, vibrant person," Steve Wachler, a Kestenbaum family friend, said at the family home in Bellmore last night. A high school volleyball player who was majoring in early childhood education, Kestenbaum was the daughter of former Hempstead Town councilwoman Rita Kestenbaum.

"She had a lot of friends," Wachler said.

Schiffman also was popular, a journalism major at Maryland, an honor roll student in high school and a member of Kennedy's then-fledgling girl's lacrosse team, according to her father and Craig Papach, the school's athletic coordinator.

"They were the girls that other girls wanted to be friends with," Papach said last night. "They were good, spirited kids."

Katie McDevitt of the East Valley Tribune also contributed to this story.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

How awful....

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

Sad,

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

I just saw this on the news...so tragic

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

I was just reading this article and some of the comments people posted about it on Newsday.com... one sicko blamed the girls for not being able to "keep the opinions to themselves... they're mouths are what got them killed...."

I'm floored! How does someone actually think that?!?!!?!?!

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

people are amazing. the answer to everything is violence. it is horrible. they had their whole lives ahead of them!!

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

This is so tragic! I have friends that have kids that go to that school and live in Tempe..

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

This is so sad

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

That is so terrible.

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

What's wrong with people???? That is horrible

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

that's so sad. I am a ASU graduate and it's a shame to hear something like that!!!!

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

So Sad

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

So sad.........

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

so young and such beautiful girls

so sad

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

I watched it on the new last night. Horrible & senseless.

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

that is awful

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

omg... so sad.

Honestly, some people should really be committed and not allowed to interact with people.

Clearly, the girl who lost her life was right about this maniac. I bet his girlfriend will live a life filled with guilt and regret.

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

How tragic.

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona

I heard about this today at work, it is so sad.

Re: 2 L.I. students slain in Arizona