AUSTIN -- Twenty-one-year-old Fatima Barrie was a track star at Huston-Tillotson University studying for a job in medicine. But on Dec. 4, just before 2:30 AM, her life took a deadly turn.
Police say she and a group of friends were leaving a concert on West 5th Street and Lavaca Street when a fight broke out. Barrie was stabbed in the upper chest.
Police say she died Wednesday night at University Medical Center Brackenridge, after weeks of intensive care. Nineteen-year-old Kaitlyn Ritcherson was charged in her murder.
Investigators do not know where Ritcherson got the knife or what her motive might have been.
“This is truly two people who have never met each other, don’t know each other,” Austin Police Detective Anthony Nelson said.
He does not believe that drugs or alcohol played a role.
“I would appreciate anyone coming to me and telling me ‘this is what happened,’” Det. Nelson said.
A university spokeswoman said Thursday that funeral arrangements are still pending, and that a memorial service will likely take place on campus after students return from their holiday break.
Barrie’s homicide marks Austin’s 27th this year. Ritcherson’s bond has been set at $125,000.
