Several hundred students and mourners gathered for a memorial service Thursday evening at Barnard. Niche. A senior law enforcement official told NBC New York that police were questioning a 14-year-old as well, but that teen has not yet been charged. Donate today, Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations. The NYPD is also speaking with a 12-year-old, the official said. ", Last nights murder of a young woman near Morningside Park is despicable, unacceptable and goes against everything NYC stands for. 180 is overflowing, the middle school is moribund, an add-on, says Genisha Metcalf, who is the head of the PTA. She was very special and very loved.". Fearless, said someone who had known her for a very long time. A teenage boy arrested in the 2019 deadly stabbing of Barnard College student Tessa Majors in a Manhattan park, a crime that rattled New York City residents for its apparent randomness, was. Its been a decade since theyve made it this far in the playoffs. Violent. The tabloids have said that he has a hard time paying attention, but this isnt altogether true. New York May Become the First State to Ban Gas in New Buildings. Police still don't know if the two cases are connected, but it is an element they're looking at in their quest to find Majors' killers. Large legal teams occupy two large tables, each spread with stacks of files and pads and Post-it notes. He called the boys uncle to come to the station, and Roosevelt Davis said he would be there when he got off work. Skip to Main Content. She stumbled up some stairs where she was found by a security guard, and later died. You didnt want them to pick up a crack vial or a hypodermic needle. Barnard had already opened Cathedral Gardens, a swanky dorm with dishwashers, for 92 upperclass students on the parks southeastern corner, and condo high-rises sprouted like beanstalks on the periphery. It is also unclear how the "crime informationals" list is shared with students. The murder of Tessa Majors is ours. Police have arrested a 13-year-old boy in connection with the murder of 18-year-old Tessa Majors, a first-year Barnard College student who was fatally stabbed in Morningside Park on Wednesday.. The older boys are both 14 and, charged with murder and robbery, will be tried in the youth part of the criminal court. Additional reporting by Jen Chung and Christopher Robbins. The park where 18-year-old Tessa Majors was stabbed to death in a brutal robbery is also where most robberies were reported this year among all New York City parks, according to the police department crime statistics. No one called a lawyer. Spotting the group from his unmarked police car, Officer Randys Ramos-Luna made a U-turn on Morningside Avenue. One first-year described looking around her dorm room where Tess had very recently been and resting her gaze on all the objects her living body had so recently physically touched a bed, a bookshelf and nearly having a panic attack. Some people at the vigil carried bouquets of flowers that they set in a circle in the courtyard of the school. Every generation, a crime tells a new story about New York. The murder of Tessa Majors occurred near Morningside Park in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, on December 11, 2019. More People Would Believe Me If I Screamed. "This is an unthinkable tragedy that has shaken us to our core," Barnard President Sian Leah Beilock said in the letter, adding that counseling services would be available all day Thursday. This was weird, but not too weird. At semi-regular meetings up at Columbia, stakeholders Taylor, reps from Parks and the university, local politicians would listen to Harpers crime report. Meanwhile, Majors' death has rocked the entire campus community. While Barnard has "its own trustees, faculty, and dean" and is in charge of its own endowment and facilities, it shares some common responsibilities with Columbia, including security. He said he already knew what the boy had done and would be able to tell if he was lying. Friends of Morningside Park has sent around a notice about the attacks, and a vigil is set for Thursday, May 9 at 6 pm to call attention to the violence. She knows Tess would have too. Im not going to say it was unbelievable, but it was crazy, says Derrick Haynes, a neighborhood activist who is also a basketball coach. This article was featured in One Great Story, New Yorks reading recommendation newsletter. We were all falling asleep. The college freshman, an aspiring writer, played in a band and she recently had her first show in October, according to her Instagram posts. He considered knifepoint robberies to be of a serious threat nature. For years, he says, he had been complaining bitterly about necessary upgrades and fuming about the parks status as a poor stepchild to Central and Riverside parks. (Harlem is block by block, gentrifiers like to say.) These are our kids. She remembers talking to her parents on the phone a few weeks after she arrived on campus. Its recommendations were for the college to better codify its mission: to train officers, to articulate policies, to collaborate better with Columbia security, to be more transparent with Barnard students, and to conduct an independent and comprehensive physical security assessment of the Barnard campus., Paulette Arnold and five other students wrote as much in a letter to President Beilock two nights after Tesss death. After being stabbed, Tess bleeding profusely into her lungs climbed up these steps, arriving finally at the hushed, tree-lined corner of Morningside Drive and 116th, diagonally across the intersection from the Italianate mansion where Columbia president Lee Bollinger lives. After Tesss death, Sasha deferred one final paper, for a class called Educational Foundations. None of this was true, but in court the detective testified that bluffing during an interrogation is legal. A running list of all the alleged personal slights and rude behavior that may hamper Ron DeSantis in his 2024 primary battle with Donald Trump. The college kept the counseling center open and added extra staff. Gothamist is a website about New York City news, arts, events and food, brought to you by New York Public Radio. At P.S. That was obvious., Anna Quindlen remembers arriving at Barnard in 1970 and being told, at part of freshman orientation, that should she accidentally miss the subway stop at the front door of campus, she should stay in the station, turn right around, and take the subway back downtown and never try to walk home through the park or Harlem itself. Police have released vision of men who may be able to assist with investigations into the theft of approximately $463,000 worth of catalytic converters across the South Eastern Region in February. 180 remained a more challenging place. Majors suffered multiple stab wounds to her face and body in the attack, police said. Earlier that evening, a first-year named Tessa Majors had been killed off campus, it said, in Morningside Park. He was in the park with his friends, he said. Kopyto, Majors's fellow Barnard first-year, is from New York. Neither Bollinger nor Beilock was present but sent surrogates instead. Melony, another Columbia student who also declined to give her last name, also said there had not been any warnings given about Morningside Park. This past September, Brad Taylor wrote his umpteenth email to Mark Levine, the city councilmember for the area, begging for three full-time Parks patrols to be dedicated to Morningside. Among the woke majority, theres a dismissive attitude about proactive safety. The McNab incident was handled badly, Hughes agrees, but safety actually matters. You think I need this shit? Roosevelt Davis was 47 years old, he said, and for his whole life he had never been in a police precinct house. Texas Family Gunned Down By Neighbor in Horrific Shooting. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis . New Luxury Apartments Are Good, Actually. HARLEM, NY For the second time in two years, the deadly stabbing of a Columbia University student has sent shockwaves of grief through the neighborhood and revived safety concerns about. All of Ron DeSantiss Crimes Against Good Etiquette. We got calls that the police were going to peoples homes, knocking on doors, intimidating them., The language used by police and the press to describe the suspects was concerning, too. His body has adapted to the way the cuffs come off and on: He shifts his shoulders and angles his wrists to help out the officer with the key. I was told not to walk through that park," Melony said. He needed to be home. A U.S. Department of Education Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting (PDF, page 2-15) states, If the public park is on the opposite side of the street from your campus, do not include it in your public property category., Abigail Boyer, the associate executive director for the Clery Center, a group that helps schools comply with the law, said that this is known as the "sidewalk-street-sidewalk rule. Mullins had intentionally or unintentionally directed blame on Tess, a young woman, for her own murder. In a pained email, someone in Tesss inner circle wrote, Tess was a big-tent person., In addition to the extra NYPD officers, Columbia University security promised more cars, more foot-patrol officers, more shuttle buses, and more escort services. Little by little, over about two hours, a story came out. He was arraigned in Manhattan family court later in the day. Thirty skinny, overgrown, vertical acres, it forms a split-level boundary between the promontory where Columbia University and Barnard College stand, fortresslike, and the flats of Harlem, its elegant brownstones mixed with storefronts and public housing. It belongs, jurisdictionally, to the City of New York, but in reality no one cares for it. That's where a growing tribute with candles and stuffed animals grew Friday evening, as the stunned Barnard College community struggled to come to terms with the tragedy. President Beilock also hired a consulting firm to investigate the incident, and on August 15, she wrote a letter to the whole community, vowing to take the necessary steps to address any racial and other forms of bias and inequitable enforcement of campus policies., According to the consultants report, the biggest safety hazard had nothing to do with race. She came off, especially to other first-years just finding their place in a new pecking order, as almost intimidatingly confident, though others put it differently. Terms of Service apply. The teenager confessed, and will face murder, robbery, and weapons charges, an NYPD official with knowledge of the case confirmed to Gothamist. In the weeks before Christmas, the DOE held a meeting for concerned parents at the school, but it didnt include the NYPD, Columbia, or Barnard, and the DOE point person turned out to be David Hay, who shortly thereafter was arrested on federal child-pornography charges. In the days ahead we will be discussing with the police overall safety in our community and what more we can do to restore that sense of safety we all demand and we all deserve in our broader New York City community.. One of the older boys held her while the other tried to grab her belongings, including her phone. In the late 1980s, the citys climate of racism and fear propelled the wrongful conviction of innocent teens. It could be your best friend. Text chains with dozens of people on them were circulating, pleading, Say that youre here. In the library, young women began to close their laptops and go in search of their friends. The Association for a Better New York is partnering with the city in hopes of reversing a rising grand larceny auto trend. Police received a 911 call about the attack just after 5:30 p.m. "During the struggle, one of these individuals pulled out a knife and stabbed our victim several times," Harrison said. Rage-filled Samuel Alito Baffled His Fairness is Being Questioned. Mortally wounded, Majors staggered up a wide staircase of steep stone steps to at 116th Street and Morningside Drive, feet from Columbia's School of Law. Then the boy looked at the pictures from the park. . But Justice has to survive a primary challenge. Tucker Carlson Was Fired After Calling a Fox News Executive the C-Word. Crime statistics show more robberies have been reported in Morningside Park this year than any other city park. Elderly and young people who would take the risk of walking through the park.. He would also have seen Tesss body just a few dozen yards from his front door. I collapsed on the ground, heaving, she said. In this Dec. 15, 2019, file photo, views of the crime scene are shown in Morningside Park four days after Tessa Majors, a Barnard freshman, was murdered, in New York. The email was sincere, even anguished, but these two little words, off campus, reflected a lawyers touch, a self-protective assertion, in writing, defining the costs and risks of living in a big city as beyond the jurisdiction of the college recruiting students there. The killing, and the coverage of the killing, were so awful that parents immediately began talking about transferring their kids out. Morningside Park is in a Harlem police precinct that has grown safer over the years, but crime has risen this year in the park itself. Or, they got mad. "We take very seriously our obligations to keep students, faculty and staff informed, as reflected by the fact that an alert was shared with the Columbia community shortly after we became aware of the crime committedWednesday evening," a university spokesperson said. When Tess and all the other first-year students arrived on campus, no one mentioned the spike of crime in the park. North Carolina Court Deals Big Blow to Dems Chances of Retaking the House. Its stigmatizing young men and boys. I encourage you to reach out to the following additional on-campus resources as needed: Dean of Studies Office: 105 Milbank Hall, (212) 854-2024. What conversation were they supposed to have? In the spring of 2019, when Tess was still in high school, Barnard and Columbia undertook a massive rethinking of their approach to the issues of race and student safety after a Columbia senior named Alexander McNab refused to show his ID at the high Barnard gates. Weve got this. Instead, the response was self-protective and fragmented. Very rarely do we get police on horseback in the parks in Harlem., It felt to the neighborhood like an invasion. Barnard, like nearly every other college or university, has to comply with the Clery Act, a federal statute that requires schools to alert students of crimes on campus; at Barnard, and at Columbia too, students receive regular safety warnings about robberies and assaults on school property. "I try to stay in safe places, places I know are . Aug. 12, 2011. T&M Protection Resources found safety procedures at Barnard to be haphazard and informal. Dont worry sources say the Trumps still have a more than suitable partners arrangement. Aww! add-to-list. They asked if I felt safe walking through New York, and I was like, Oh, yeah, I feel totally safe. And my dad was like, Its good that you feel safe, but dont be nave.. Majors takes his job as Tesss representative seriously. The wide, tiered, wedding-cake staircase where Tess met the boys descends steeply from street level into the park at its westernmost edge. At the word victim, Inman Majors made a loud and involuntary gasp, as if he were taken suddenly by surprise. The interrogation took place in a small, windowless room, large enough for one table and four chairs, and it was conducted by Wilfredo Acevedo, a detective sent from the homicide division of Manhattan North. The Central Park Conservancy has donations of about $50 million a year; Friends of Morningside Park, about $30,000. The safest course was to bypass it completely. These things happen. Around the time of Tessas murder, two other Columbia students died, and these were met with the usual administration condolences and list of campus resources: a hotline, a chaplain, the open hours of psych services. Its okay to be disappointed when people arent kind.. Now, in an era of heightened vigilance and activism, a whole cultures protective instincts kicked in, insisting that young black suspects sought by police could be seen as casualties as well. Despite being ranked among the safer parks in 2019, the park on W 116th Street had 11 reports of robbery through September compared to 10 at Brooklyn's Prospect Park and 9 at Claremont Park in the Bronx, according to the NYPD. Crime; Barnard College Slaying Victim 'Shone Bright in This World' . My legs went jelly. Paulette had met Tess in the first weeks of school, when Tess attended a meeting of Rare Candy, the online music magazine Paulette helped to edit. I can tell you I know ten young men who look like this young man. Fathers, she added, took the poster campaign especially hard. Students Say Barnard And Columbia Failed To Warn Them About Rising Crime In Morningside Park, We rely on your support to make local news available to all, NYPD deploys tracking technology to curb car thefts, Woman dies at Brooklyn party loft, neighbors say space is a haven for unlicensed parties, Lithium-ion batteries a growing fire hazard in NYC garbage trucks, DSNY says, Before Harry Belafonte the star, there was an ordinary New Yorker and a pivotal encounter, On this day, independent bookstores in New York fight back. Police are offering a $2,500 reward for any information that may lead to the arrest of Majors' murderer. Every student was told she could go home for break early, or request extensions on papers or exams, no questions asked. More. According to the Times, there had been 20 robberies inside Morningside Park or on its perimeter as of December 8th of this year, compared to seven in the same period last year. Their kids hear the word killer and wonder, What does that say about me?. Within minutes, McNab was encircled by six campus security guards and pinned to a cafeteria counter, his arms behind him, like a fish. They had the little scooters riding around the perimeter. But the intervening years had inverted the optics, as well as the emotional and political response. This request is completely reasonable, he wrote. That's because the parkwhich is across the street from Columbia property, sits between Columbia and a Barnard student dormitory on 110th Street, and is used by students to get to Columbia from off-campus apartments in Harlem or from the 116th subway stationis not considered a "Clery location.". "A lot of people got beat-up, jumped, killed in that park.". Scores of young women and men carrying flowers began flowing into the school shorty after 6 p.m. President [Lee] Bollinger and I are committed to doing everything we can to reinstill a sense of safety for all of us in our community, Barnards president, Sian Beilock, told mourners. The 20-year-old woman was found unresponsive when police responded to a 911 call late Friday. Even though the assault did not involve a Columbia or Barnard student, they wrote, multiple students saw the incident from our windows, and its unbelievable that we had to learn of information from outside sources to prepare ourselves. They continued: There has been increased crime in the Morningside Park area since last year, and there was an extremely violent attack in April that students were never notified about. It was at the base of steps into the park where the attack happened, law enforcement officials said. They considered and discarded several targets before settling, finally, on Tess, a small 18-year-old with blue-green hair. "It's not safe. Honestly, as a Barnard student, I never entered Morningside Park, she says, and I never thought that being warned against it was in any way notable. These preliminary hearings went on for weeks; their purpose was for Judge Carol Goldstein to make rulings on admission of evidence. Or what to say. He sometimes falls completely asleep, with his head on the table cupped in his arms, but more often he is doodling or writing or frequently talking to his lawyer, tapping her shoulder and whispering things behind a cupped hand as if he were telling secrets in school. Donald Trump Missed Melanias Birthday, Was Too Busy Ranting Online. Expect email shortly, including information about counseling hours. In the dorms, the first-years began to panic, Oh my God, holy shit, it could be anyone. I dont know about stabbing.. Its very strange, but on some level its like, Shit, another one of those. There, a Columbia University Public Safety Officer stationed at a guard post saw her and called 911. Will Biden Get Embarrassed in Iowa and New Hampshire? The boy and his friends ducked into the vestibule of a building on 119th Street, and together with two other officers, Ramos-Luna followed them in. Repeatedly, she asked Acevedo about a long list of civilian complaints alleged against him: entering homes without probable cause or a warrant, aggressive language and profanity, withholding evidence, excessive use of force. Theres a dog run and a Greenmarket on Saturdays and a new playground near the foot of the steps where Tess was stabbed. Tess was tiny and feminine and among her peers had started to use they/them pronouns, although she didnt insist on it. Im being robbed, and she bit the second boys finger, hard, so it bled. NBC New York's Ida Siegal reports. National Abortion Ban Is a Trap for 2024 Republicans. Riverdale Park. Tesss parents, who had remained mostly silent, were infuriated to see their daughter deployed as a political puppet, and released an excoriating statement. But 13 is the boundary. He should have just left it. Back to Full Profile. Derrick Haynes is speculating, but he fixates on an early news story according to which one of the older boys dropped the knife before the murder and the boy picked it up and handed it back. Around 1am on Wednesday February 8, a group of three men forced entry . We've lost a young woman full of potential in a senseless act of violence. But beginning in the spring of 2019, the NYPD noted a surge of robberies in Morningside Park, 17 compared to seven the year before, and at the 26th Precinct, police detected a pattern. And on Tuesday, a 16-year-old pleaded guilty to her murder in Manhattan Criminal Court and described at length the encounter that led to her violent death on a chilly December evening outside. He sits in the corner farthest from the boy, near the door, on a hard, narrow, uncomfortable bench. Majors was from Charlottesville, Virginia. I dont know about stabbing. Im so concerned that they are going to use this as an opportunity to just fuck with young black people and Latino people all day and all night., At the same time, everyone is trying to wrap their heads around what happened. Where do you draw that line? Thats not fair to the people who live in the neighborhood, and it gave the consent to be treated certain ways by the Police Department and by the community., This angelic-little-white-girl thing, its just too much, said Monica Dula, a Harlem resident and an attorney at the Legal Aid Society in the Bronx. Suspect is a male wearing a green jacket and a mask. Police say 19-year-old Jason Harris was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal sex act. All rights reserved, Hate Against Jewish People, Police Fueled Jersey City Attack: NJ AG, WATCH: Man Rescues Dog After Leash Gets Caught in Elevator, Construction May Make Getting to JFK Airport a Nightmare for 3 Years: What to Know, Benadryl Challenge' That Killed Ohio Teen Lands NJ Boy in Hospital; See Mom's Warning, Flooding Nightmare' Ends Weekend Downpour, Fills NYC Basements With Sewage Water, Entenmann's Launches Ice Cream Sandwiches Based on Its Baked Goods, A college student was brutally stabbed in a park near Columbia University in what police say was a robbery, The victim was identified as 18-year-old Tessa Majors, NYPD crime statistics show that Morningside Park had the most reports of robberies in all of New York City parks so far in 2019. In that case, on Dec. 5, a 19-year-old man was robbed near 114th Street and Riverside Drive by two men who fled the park afterward, cops said. Thats a lot. At this point, she and her friends in the neighborhood prefer to reserve judgment. "Around 9 we got word that a first-year student had been fatally. Jerome Powell Got Punked by Russian Prank Callers. Explore crime rates for Morningside, MD including murder, assault, and property crime statistics. Hochman wants to major in unafraid. Sketchy news reports outpaced the internal notifications, and parents began texting, calling, sending links. This was a murder. a driveway near Ferncroft Drive and Woodland Park Road on Wednesday, April 26 at around 1 a.m. . A friend at Tesss Barnard memorial said she wore too much eyeliner or exactly the right amount, depending on your point of view. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Majors, an eighteen-year-old student at Barnard College, was attacked and stabbed by three teenagers as part of a robbery. I dont know about stabbing, the boy said. Although crime has since plummeted to historic lows in the 30 years since, Morningside Park's notoriety as a dangerous place is hardly a thing of the past. ", When asked why she wanted to attend Barnard, Majors told the women's liberal arts college in her application: As an avid feminist, I have striven towards bridging my community gender divide by being outspoken in my classes, taking an intensive course on social justice, and campaigning for a congressional candidate. Mourning the Tragic Death of a Barnard Student, the subject line said. Do you see what you fucking got yourself into, cause youre hanging out with the wrong fucking people instead of bringing your ass home? And: I told you about being a follower! They werent disinvited. 180, the parents were reeling. Sasha Hochman met Tess on the fourth night of school when they went out with a big group of first-years into the city, and while they never became close friends, Sasha liked seeing Tess in the elevator or the cafeteria. Youre not a bad kid, Acevedo said, at about 6:35 p.m. I can see it in you. A lot of the time, he added, you can be in big trouble if youre somewhere with someone whos doing something they shouldnt do as big as the person doing it. Davis, who is a tall man, hugged the boy hard and long and sobbed with a deep voice. If convicted, they will serve five years to life. Were asking anyone with info to contact @NYPDTips at #800577TIPS. Lighting everywhere was terrible, the surveillance cameras ancient. I have spoken directly, and repeatedly, to the Police Commissioner who has kept me informed about the investigation. Young and violent, Sekou points out. In its absence, travelers would have to scale a cliff. Roy Wood Jr.s Best Jokes at the 2023 White House Correspondents Dinner, The Rivalry Between the Knicks and the Heat From the Guys Who Were There. Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. A law enforcement source tells News 4 people are looking into whether the deadly . By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. Oh, he said, according to Ramos-Luna, these are the same sneakers. Back on the sidewalk, Ramos-Luna told his colleagues that he was going to arrest the boy for trespassing and bring him in for questioning. People would go in there smoke crack, have sex, live in the park," recalled Sekou. Iesha Sekou, a neighborhood resident, anti-violence activist, and CEO of Street Corner Resources, said that many crimes had been committed in Morningside Park over the years. When asked why she wanted to attend Barnard, Majors told the women's liberal arts college: As an avid feminist, I have striven towards bridging my community gender divide by being outspoken in my classes, taking an intensive course on social justice, and campaigning for a congressional candidate. You didnt put the bake-sale table up, so its on you, is how she puts it. In the courtroom, theres another frequent visitor. NEW YORK Police have ramped up patrols in the Morningside Park area in the aftermath of two stabbings that took place Thursday night, one of which killed a 30-year-old Columbia University.
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