Details are continuing to emerge regarding the stabbing death of 18-year-old Barnard College student Tessa Majors. Majors was viciously stabbed during an armed robbery-gone-wrong in Morningside Park, just blocks away from the school on Wednesday, the NY Post reports. A 13-year-old boy was believed to be connected to the crime on Thursday, and the following day, he was identified, charged with murder and ordered held without bail.
MORE: NYPD Says 13-Year-Old Confessed To Barnard College Stabbing: Everything To Know
Zyairr Davis is the name of the young teen who was apprehended on Thursday afternoon in the lobby of a building near the scene where the killing took place. As previously reported, when picked up by police, he was allegedly wearing the same clothes that matched the description of the clothing associated with Majors’ attacker.
Davis was picked up for loitering, but police found a knife on him and took him in for questioning. That is when he confessed. It is unclear, however, if the knife recovered is the murder weapon.
Davis told police that his friend “dropped a knife” as they, along with a third male suspect, attacked the college freshman, said NYPD Detective Vincent Signoretti who testified on the stand on Friday. Signoretti also helped interview Davis.
He continued, “Mr. Davis picked [the knife] up and handed it back to [his friend], and then Mr. Davis watched his friends grab the victim, put her in a chokehold and remove items from her pocket.”
Signoretti said that Davis then “saw the victim get stabbed. He saw feathers come out of her jacket, and then all three of them ran out of they park … and they went home.”
The detective said that Majors attempted to fight off her attackers. Davis also said his friend told him “that Tessa Majors bit him on the finger.”
The officer added that there is video surveillance footage of the three teens entering Morningside Park, but there is no footage of the actual slaying.
The three teens, Davis and his two 14-year-old classmates, were in the park that day with intentions of robbing someone. “He stated that he entered the park with two of his friends. The purpose of going into the park that day was to commit a robbery. They followed a man . . . with the intention of robbing him,” Signoretti explained.
A source said that the boys took Majors’ purse, while another demanded her phone. Her phone was located nearby and used to identify her.
Davis claims the boys robbed someone else prior to attacking Majors.
The 13-year-old, who stands at 5-foot-5 and weighs 110 pounds revealed the names of his accomplices to Detective Signoretti. As of Friday, one of the 14-year-olds was taken into custody, while the other remains at large.
Davis appeared in court with his legal guardian and uncle, Roosevelt Davis. An aunt was in attendance as well. The teen’s mom died in 2016, the Post reports.
Wearing a navy-blue sweatshirt, black sweatpants and black and white Air Jordan sneakers, Davis swore to tell the truth during the hearing.
He added, “My name is Zyairr Davis, and I’m 13.”
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