WHY?

Second Suspect Arrested in Murder of Barnard College Freshman Tessa Majors

After a 13-year-old boy was charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of Tessa Majors, 18.

A second suspect has been arrested in connection with the stabbing death of Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors, a senior law-enforcement official tells The Daily Beast. The arrest comes hours after a 13-year-old boy was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly admitted to NYPD detectives that he and two friends robbed and stabbed Majors on Wednesday, one official said. Police said the 13-year-old was spotted by officers at 4:20 p.m. Thursday in the lobby of a building on West 119 Street, near the site of the attack, and was wearing clothes that matched the description of the suspect in Majors’ murder, the official said. Police found a knife on him, the official said.

The teen was questioned in the presence of his uncle and “spoke willingly to detectives at the station house,” the official said. Investigators are now seeking one other suspect. The 13-year-old, who has not been named, was originally arrested Thursday on suspicion of criminal trespass. He now faces additional charges of robbery in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon, the official told The Daily Beast.

Majors, 18, a Virginia native, was walking near the entrance of Morningside Park on West 116th Street in Manhattan before 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening when she was attacked by a group of people, according to police. She was found staggering with stab wounds to her face and body and pronounced dead after being rushed to a hospital.