On Wednesday, Barnard freshman Tessa Majors was on an early evening walk through a park near campus when she was fatally stabbed, the New York Times reports. This morning, police arrested and charged a 13-year-old boy in connection with the murder, and are currently looking for two other suspects they believe acted alongside him. However, many questions still loom over the tragedy, which has shaken the campus and community.
“We lost a very special, very talented, and very well-loved young woman,” Majors’ family said in a statement on Thursday. “Tess shone bright in this world, and our hearts will never be the same.”
Here’s everything we know.
According to the New York Times, Majors had recently moved to New York City from Charlottesville, Virginia, to start her first year at Barnard. She loved music, and spent her weekends practicing with her band, Patient 0, which had recently put out their first album. The Daily Beast reports that she had an interest in writing, and interned at a local newspaper last summer.
Around 7 p.m., Majors was walking through Morningside Park when a group of teens approached her near West 116th Street and Morningside Drive, Police Department Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said on Thursday. While police have yet to name a motive, they say the perpetrators attempted to steal Majors’ money and phone, resulting in a struggle. Harrison says that one of the assailants then pulled out a knife and stabbed Majors multiple times, and that the suspects — detectives believe there were three in total — quickly fled the scene. Majors, severely wounded, made her way up a flight of stairs and out of the park, and collapsed near the street. After a campus security guard found her unconscious, she was transported to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital, where she died later that night.
In the day following the murder, police interviewed two teenagers who they considered persons of interest, but later released them. But the New York Times reports that officials are getting closer to identifying the perpetrators. On Friday morning, police arrested a 13-year-old boy and charged him with murder, robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon. (It is still unclear whether the teen will be charged as an adult or a juvenile.) According to WABC-TV, the NYPD picked up the suspect on Thursday afternoon and was holding him for criminal trespass when he started to talk about Majors’ murder, reportedly implicating himself. Police also say that he was in possession of a knife, though they haven’t confirmed whether it was the murder weapon.
According to the Times, detectives are still looking for additional suspects, which Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed on WNYC, saying, “I am absolutely confident that any individuals involved in this terrible, heinous attack will be brought to justice and will be brought to justice quickly.”
Late Wednesday evening, Barnard president Sian Leah Beilock wrote in a campuswide letter, “We mourn this devastating murder of an extraordinary young woman and member of our community.” Mayor de Blasio expressed similar shock in a news conference, saying, “It’s terrifying to think that that can happen anywhere.”
On Thursday evenings, thousands of Barnard students, administrators, and locals came together to mourn Majors, where they remembered her as bold, kind, and ambitious — someone who “lit up” any room she entered.
“I broke down in tears … I only met Tess last week, and we made such good friends the moment we met each other,” Demetrius George, who met Majors just a week before her death, told the Columbia Spectator. “To find out this news was the worst.”
“Listening to her music made me want to know her,” Kira Tsougarakis, who attended the vigil, told the Spectator. “I’m sad for all the people who didn’t — including me.”
While many students have spoken out in the wake of the murder to reassure classmates that they shouldn’t fear for their safety, some students say they’ve been on edge. “I was really, really scared on Wednesday night, Thursday and even today,” Caitlin Walsh told a local CBS station, “just walking alone and being outside alone.”
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This post has been updated.