Boy, 13, arrested in fatal stabbing of New York college student
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police tape cordoned off an entrance to Morningside Park along Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Thursday, in New York. An 18-year-old Barnard College freshman, identified as Tessa Majors, was fatally stabbed during an armed robbery in the park, sending shock waves through the college and wider Columbia University community.
NEW YORK >> The deadly stabbing of an 18-year-old Barnard College student in a park near campus jarred New York City, where residents, especially those in Manhattan, worried that it was a throwback to an era when violent street crime was far more common.
Then today came more unsettling news: A 13-year-old boy was arrested and charged in connection with the murder of the student, Tessa Majors.
According to law enforcement officials, the boy was part of a group that attempted to rob Majors as she was walking through Morningside Park in upper Manhattan. She was killed in a struggle with them.
Investigators do not believe that the boy under arrest, who has not been identified, stabbed her. But after he was taken into custody, he implicated himself in the attack in statements to police, one law enforcement official said.
His statements led investigators to two other suspects, who are believed to be 14 years old, another official said.
One of the suspects was detained and interviewed and it was unclear whether he would be charged, the official said. The other is believed to be the person who stabbed Majors and is still being sought.
The 13-year-old, who lives in Harlem and is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, was charged with second-degree felony murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon, the official said. He was expected to be arraigned this afternoon, officials said.
Majors was walking in the park when she was approached by people near West 116th Street and Morningside Drive, said Rodney Harrison, the Police Department’s chief of detectives, on Thursday.
There was a struggle, and one of the assailants pulled out a knife and stabbed Majors several times, Harrison said. The attackers then fled, and Majors staggered onto the street, where a campus security guard found her.
Majors was taken to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s hospital, where she died from her injuries, Harrison said.
A folding knife with a blade roughly 4 inches long was recovered near the scene and was being tested for DNA and fingerprints, a law enforcement official said.
