14-Year-Old Charged in Stabbing Death of Barnard Student Tessa Majors

Tessa Majors. Tessa Majors/Instagram

A 14-year-old boy was arrested in the slaying of Barnard College student Tessa Majors, who was stabbed to death during an armed robbery in December, according to officials.

“Sadly, it cannot bring back this young woman, this student, this victim,” New York City Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a news conference on Sunday, referring to the arrest. “That is something that even the best, most impartial investigation simply cannot do.”

He said NYPD officials are “confident” they have arrested the suspect “who stabbed her,” adding that they will “face justice.” He was identified in the news conference as Rashaun Weaver.

Blood evidence, smartphone evidence, and the suspect’s statements are now being evaluated by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who described the incident as a “gruesome picture.”

Majors’s last words were “help me, I’m being robbed,” Vance said. The 18-year-old student, he added, tried to fight back against three young teens who had attempted to rob her at a park in New York City.

Vance said that his office “will be very careful to safeguard all the rights he has,” referring to the charges against Weaver.

“Only a fair process will result in true justice for Tessa Majors,” he said. The 14-year-old will return to court on Wednesday.

The Epoch Times is naming the juvenile defendant due to the seriousness of the crime and because he has been charged as an adult. Weaver was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree robbery, and three counts of second-degree robbery .

Weaver’s attorney, Elsie Chandler, told the New York Post that “he’s a 14-year-old child, and he’s presumed not guilty.”

A 13-year-old boy was previously taken into custody in Majors’s slaying. He was charged with second-degree murder, robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon.