A Barnard College freshman was stabbed to death during a mugging in a park Wednesday night, steps away from the campus of Columbia University, police sources said.
»GEORGIA ANGLE: Atlanta's campus crimes concern students, parents
In a campuswide letter, Barnard’s president Sian Leah Beilock identified the victim as 18-year-old Tessa Rane Majors and said she had been slain in an armed robbery in Morningside Park.
Police sources said Majors was walking down a set of steps to the park when a group of young men confronted her and proceeded to rob her.
One of the men pulled a knife and stabbed Majors repeatedly in the stomach before the suspects scattered, police reported.
The victim staggered back up to the steps to a Columbia security guard booth, but the public safety officer was out doing his rounds, sources told Tribune News Service.
Credit: Richard Drew
Credit: Richard Drew
When the guard returned, he found the victim on the ground and called 911.
Columbia University, however, disputed this version of events, saying the security guard was at his post and immediately came to the girl's aid once he realized she was injured.
»MORE: More than one in 10 campus cops in Georgia have checkered records
At about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, officers with the New York Police Department responded to the scene.
When they arrived, police found a woman unconscious and bleeding from multiple stab wounds.
Medics rushed the student to Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital, but she couldn't be saved.
Police said they found a woman's hat, a butterfly knife and an uncharged cell phone on the ground near the victim.
Conflicting reports
There were multiple conflicting accounts on whether any of the suspects had been taken into custody.
The New York Times reported that cops followed a trail of blood to the fifth floor of an apartment complex nearby. Inside, the newspaper said, they found a 16-year-old boy in a green jacket who fit a description of one of the attackers. He was taken into custody but not immediately charged.
Several other news outlets reported there had been no arrests made so far.
According to ABC News, one to three people were believed to have been involved in the crime, and several minors were being questioned, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said at a news conference.
Two other police sources said a person of interest was questioned Thursday but has since been released.
The mood on campus
On the campus of the private women's liberal arts college in Manhattan on Thursday, students said they were nervous and afraid.
“My friend is throwing up in the bathroom,” said Isabel Jauregui, a Barnard student who works on the Columbia Spectator campus newspaper. “She’s so scared.”
»FROM AUGUST: Shock, comfort and safety concerns on Atlanta campuses
Barnard student Layne Donovan, 18, said the attack had left the campus shaken.
“Everybody knows each other,” he said.
Credit: Richard Drew
Credit: Richard Drew
Niharika Rao, 19, said he met the victim once while eating on campus.
“She has green hair,” Rao said. “I told her ... I liked her hair.”
Tristen Pasternak, a Barnard sophomore, was waiting near campus for a shuttle home late Wednesday. She said she was not completely surprised to hear that someone had been attacked in the park.
“I used to go through there,” Pasternak, 20, said. “It’s always had a weird vibe.”
— Compiled from multiple news reports by ArLuther Lee, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Information from Tribune News Service, The New York Times and ABC News was used to supplement this story.
About the Author
