Tessa Majors was looking to buy weed before her murder, police union president claims
By Tina Moore, Craig McCarthy and Joe Marino
New York Post
December 15, 2019
Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors was allegedly in Morningside Park to buy marijuana when she was fatally stabbed by a group of teenage robbers, the head of the NYPD sergeants’ union claimed Sunday.
“What I am understanding is that [Majors] was in the park to buy marijuana,” Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins told radio host John Catsimatidis on his AM 970 show, The Cats Roundtable.
“Here we have a student murdered by a 13-year-old, we have a common denominator: marijuana,” said Mullins, referring to the 18-year-old Majors and one of her alleged killers, 13-year-old Zyairr Davis, whom neighbors have said smokes weed.
Police sources confirmed to The Post that they are investigating the claim that Majors was in the park to score weed, a detail that came from a college friend of the victim.
The pal claimed to detectives that the 18-year-old Virginia native and musician said she was headed to the Upper Manhattan park to buy pot Wednesday evening, according to sources.
Majors was later found fatally stabbed on stairs near West 116th Street and Morningside Drive. Her bag was gone.
A Columbia University security guard found Majors lying just outside Morningside Park around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, bloodied from stab wounds to her face, neck and arms, according to authorities and sources.
Davis was arrested Thursday and allegedly told detectives he and two middle-school buddies robbed her before one of the boys knifed her to death, sources said. It wasn’t clear what sparked the fatal knifing or whether the boys were involved in any drug deal that went down or one that was supposed to.
Despite purportedly admitting a role in the mugging, Davis has denied plunging the knife into Majors.
Another youth, 14, was arrested, but ultimately released Saturday as authorities worked to bolster their case.
A third teen — the middle-school who actually did the stabbing — is still being sought.
Mullins said Sunday that lax police enforcement, both with respect to marijuana and in general, has the city trending in the wrong direction.
“We don’t enforce marijuana laws anymore. We’re basically hands-off on the enforcement of marijuana,” Mullins said.
“I understand the mayor made statements that this is surprising on how this can happen in New York City,” he said. “I really have to question what world he’s living in to think that this is surprising, when we are watching the city slowly erode, with shootings, stabbings, an increase in homicides and, most importantly, a hands-off policing policy.
“Something needs to change and it needs to change quickly or it’s gonna be very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: One thing that needs to change and needs to change quickly is that New Yorkers need to get rid of Mayor Bill de Blasio, but they are stuck with him until the mayoral election of 2021.
And the Daily Mail reports Davis had chased and attacked another young girl at a deli near Morningside Park just days before Majors was murdered. Workers at the deli say they were told by cops 'the same kids' who were implicated were suspected of chasing a young girl into the business. A boy, 13, followed her in and 'kicked her on the floor', says a woman behind the counter, who took his picture and called police. After Majors was killed, cops returned to the deli looking for suspects, and said kids who have been creating problems for the business, were the 'same kids' that killed the Barnard College freshman.
Meanwhile, de Blasio criticized Ed Mullins for victim shaming Majors because Mullins claims that Majors was purchasing marijuana before her death and saying the murder and marijuana were a a common denominator. De Blasio told Mullins in Twitter: 'Think of Tessa’s parents, her friends. This is heartless. It’s infuriating. We don't shame victims in this city.' Someone should tell de Blasio that it was one of Tessa’s friends who told police she went to the park to buy pot.
And the Majors family released the following statement: 'The remarks by Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins we find deeply inappropriate, as they intentionally or unintentionally direct blame onto Tess, a young woman, for her own murder. We would ask Mr Mullins not to engage in such irresponsible public speculation, just as the NYPD asked our family not to comment as it conducts the investigation. 'Our family is interested in knowing what exactly happened to Tess and who committed her murder. We believe, for the immediate safety of the community and the surrounding schools, that should be everyone's top priority and we are grateful to the men and women of the NYPD for all of their efforts.'
I can understand the Major family’s reasoning, but Mullins was trying to point out that NYPD’s failure to enforce the laws against marijuana may have been the reason Tessa was murdered.
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