Indicted teen in Majors murder held without bail
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
A 14-year-old boy suspected of fatally stabbing a
Barnard College freshman to death in a Morningside
Park robbery last December was arraigned
Wednesday on an indictment charging him with murder.
Police took Rashaun Weaver, 14, into custody on Friday
night at the Taft Houses located at 1345 Fifth Ave. in Harlem,
shortly after a grand jury indicted him on two counts
of first- and second-degree murder, and three counts of
robbery.
Weaver was the second teenager charged with the murder;
a 13-year-old boy was arrested for his role days after
it happened.
Also on Feb. 19, cops picked up Luciano Lewis, 14, who
was additionally indicted for his role in the murder/robbery.
“It has been a long deliberate process from Dec. 11,
when Tessa Majors was murdered, until today, when we
are confident that we are delivering a measure of justice
in announcing the grand jury indictment and subsequent
arrest of one of those involved in the killing,” Shea said
Saturday.
Members of the NYPD Manhattan North Homicide
Squad and the 26th Precinct Detective Squad worked with
the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to build the case
against Weaver and present it to the grand jury.
“The allegations are laid out in heartbreaking detail,”
Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. said. “It paints a picture of
the video evidence, blood, smartphone, iCloud, witness id
and the defendant’s own statements that were throughly
examined” by the grand jury, resulting in the
indictment.
The criminal complaint, Vance said,
noted in gruesome detail Majors’
final moments, including a desperate
cry for help that served
as her last words: “Help me,
I’m being robbed.”
Majors, 18, was stabbed
in the torso during an apparent
robbery attempt
in Morningside Park on
the afternoon of Dec.
11, 2019. A security
guard from Columbia
University found her
gravely wounded
on the edge of the
park. She later died at
Mount Sinai/St. Lukes
Hospital.
The murder stunned
the Barnard College campus
as well as the surrounding
community. Hundreds
gathered in Morningside Park
days later for a vigil to remember
Majors and call for justice. Some
residents had complained of robberies
and other crimes in the area in the weeks
leading up to the homicide.
Within days, police sought and questioned
several teenage boys connected
to the homicide. One 13-yearold
was taken into custody on
murder and robbery charges,
while another 14-year-old
boy was questioned and
released. A third suspect
was located and also
questioned.
The 13-year-old
suspect in the Majors
murder is being tried
in family court, but
under state law,
Weaver — who turns
15 in two months —
will be prosecuted in
criminal court. Vance
said that his office “will
be very careful to safeguard
all the rights that
he has as we go forward
with this case.”
PHOTO VIA INSTAGRAM/TESSMAJORS
Tessa Majors, a Barnard
College student, was
stabbed to death in Morningside
Park on Dec. 11, 2019.
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