Murder of Tessa Majors

Morningside Park experienced seventeen robberies in the spring of 2019 compared to seven robberies the year before. The suspects in these robberies were mostly younger juveniles between the ages of twelve and fourteen. The robberies usually involved “the same kids over and over.” though Barnard did receive regular briefings from the NYPD and a safety briefing was part of freshman orientation. ==Murder==

On December 11, 2019, Majors was walking in Morningside Park, several blocks from Barnard College. Shortly before 7:00 p.m., three people attacked Majors on a staircase near 116th Street and Morningside Drive. At a 2021 sentencing hearing for Lewis, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos characterized the attack as long, intentional, and pre-meditated. The offender told police that his two accomplices had grabbed Majors, and used a choke-hold as a restraint while searching for items to take. After the altercation, the attackers went through Majors' pockets and fled. Majors staggered up the stairs and collapsed at the corner of Morningside Drive and 116th Street, Police responded to the attack after a 911 call, finding Majors with multiple stab wounds. Majors was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital. ==Investigation and suspects==

The day after the incident, the police arrested a thirteen-year-old male and charged him with felony murder and felony robbery. and sneakers In order to avoid the missteps that occurred during the Central Park Five case 30 years prior, police called in prosecutors early on in the case. Additionally, all questioning of the thirteen-year-old was video recorded. Police were unable to locate the third suspect, a fourteen-year-old, for two weeks, but apprehended him on December 26 after publicly releasing his photograph. On February 14, 2020, one of the fourteen-year-olds who had been arrested on December 26, was indicted by a grand jury. The New York City Police Department re-arrested him and charged him as an adult with two counts of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree robbery and three counts of second-degree robbery. According to a criminal complaint, DNA belonging to this suspect was found under Majors' fingernails. The suspect allegedly confessed to his incarcerated father during a recorded phone conversation. According to court papers, the suspect stated that he tried to get Majors' phone coercively. In February, another suspect, aged fourteen, was arrested. two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of second-degree robbery. Both fourteen-year-old suspects were arraigned on February 19 and pleaded not guilty. On June 3, 2020, the 13-year-old male arrested the day after the incident, and who had since turned 14, pleaded guilty in family court to robbery in the first degree. Police investigation of surveillance footage had shown that this juvenile, the youngest of the three in the group, had not touched Majors during the crime, which the prosecutor said had contributed, along with his young age and clean record, to their decision to drop the murder charge if the boy pleaded guilty to the robbery. On June 15 he was sentenced to eighteen months in detention. Though Majors's parents were not present at the sentencing, they submitted a victim impact statement which was read in court. In the statement, they criticized the deal that led to the offender's guilty plea and argued that he “has shown a complete lack of remorse or contrition for his role in the killing of Tess Majors.” They also criticized the offender's choice to pick up the knife and handing it to the person who stabbed Majors with it. On September 21, 2021, Lewis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. The news was welcomed by Majors' family who thanked the authorities for their work in this case. He is currently imprisoned in the Franklin Correctional Facility. On December 16, 2021, Weaver pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree robbery, and one count of second-degree robbery. At the plea hearing, Weaver acknowledged that he "intentionally caused the death of Tessa Majors by stabbing her with a knife." He was sentenced to 14 years to life in prison on January 19, 2022. He is currently imprisoned in the Lakeview Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility. == Victim ==

Tessa Rane Majors (May 11, 2001 December 11, 2019), also known as Tess, was from Charlottesville, Virginia. Majors graduated from St. Anne's-Belfield School in May 2019, and was a first-semester freshman at Barnard College, a private all-women's school in Manhattan. which had recently released an album. Majors also led the creative writing club in high school, ran cross-country, and volunteered on political campaigns. An intern at the Augusta Free Press during the spring of 2019, Majors had an interest in journalism Majors' father is an English professor at James Madison University, and the author of six books. ==Aftermath==

The attack prompted new security measures at Morningside Park, including 24-hour guard booths outside the park. The operational hours of the evening safety shuttle bus have also been extended. Additional funding was promised for security measures at Morningside Park, as well as fixing the outdoor lighting. NYPD committed additional officers for patrolling the park, and Columbia University pledged more security guards. New York City Council member Mark D. Levine announced he was attempting to get funds to add security cameras that could be monitored in real time by police officers. ==Reaction==

The murder of Majors garnered considerable news coverage and was referred to as a political football, in part because violent crime had fallen significantly in New York City in preceding years. The case was particularly notable due to the young ages of the suspects; In addition, due to the suspects being black and the victim of the killing being white, the murder is reported to have "resurfaced the longstanding racial and class tensions between Columbia University and the fast-gentrifying neighborhood of Harlem". The New York Times has compared the case to the 1989 Central Park jogger case, which occurred nearby in the North Woods of Central Park; both cases involved a young female victim and alleged young male perpetrators, although the suspects of the 1989 case had their charges vacated. Gale Brewer, the borough president of Manhattan, urged detectives to proceed with caution to avoid an outcome similar to the jogger case. In an effort to avoid the mistakes made by police 30 years prior, all questioning of the suspects in the Tessa Majors case was video recorded. the New York Times called it "an eerie reprise." == See also ==