EAST NEW YORK (WABC) -- Police are still searching for the person who fatally stabbed a teenager in Brooklyn Friday night, just blocks away from where two young children would be stabbed less than 48 hours later.
A cab driver found the body of 18-year-old Tanaya Grant Copeland near the intersection of Linwood Avenue and Stanley Avenue in East New York, and authorities are investigating if the murder is linked to the stabbing that killed 6-year-old Prince Joshua Avitto and left Michaela Capers injured on Sunday.
Investigators say Copeland was killed while walking home from band practice around 10:30 p.m. and was stabbed in the stomach more than two dozen times.
Police do not have any suspects.
Advocates are urging the community to stand up and speak out in order to end the violence.
"We're working on burying somebody, and now we've got to bury another child," said Tony Herbert, of the National Action Network. "This cannot keep on going on in our community."
"This is crazy," community councilman John Rodriguez said. "People have to come out of the community and they have to speak up."
Meanwhile, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries says the NYPD must use all necessary resources to find the suspects behind both stabbings.
"The violent attack that has left one child dead and another seriously injured has shocked the conscience of an East New York community filled with hard-working residents," he said in a statement. "We must pray and support the family of Prince Joshua and do all we can to ensure that Mikayla fully recovers. On the heels of a random stabbing that killed an East New York woman on Friday evening, a crime that also remains unsolved, the community is on edge. The New York Police Department and all appropriate law enforcement agencies must deploy the maximum amount of resources necessary to find the person or individuals responsible for these brutal attacks and bring them to justice."
A reward is being offered for information leading to arrests.