Backing his grandson
Alleged teen killer of Barnard student ‘didn’t do it’ Rockets hit near U.S.’ Iraq mission
The father of Rashaun Weaver, the Harlem teen accused of killing Barnard student Tessa Majors, is also behind bars, the boy’s grandfather said Sunday.
Clifford Weaver told the Daily News on Sunday the 14-year-old’s father, Clifford Shaun Weaver, has been locked up in state prison for the past two years, and was recently hit with a parole violation.
“He should be getting out soon,” Weaver’s grandfather said, adding that he was aware of the charges against his grandson.
Police arrested the youngster Friday in the lobby of the Taft Houses on Fifth Ave. in Harlem. He’s charged as an adult in the chilling Dec. 11 stabbing murder of Majors in Morningside Park.
The 18-year-old student clawed at Weaver, and police found his DNA under her fingernails.
Police allege that Weaver and two accomplices targeted the first-year college student to rob her, and that Weaver knifed her because she refused to hand over her phone.
On Sunday, Weaver’s grandfather stuck up for him.
“He didn’t do it,” 80-yearold Clifford Weaver said. “He was a nice little kid. Liked video games. Basketball. He spent a lot of time with his dad.”
The baby-faced teen ducked detectives for weeks, and police believe his family hid him because Majors bit his hand and he needed time to heal.
“I don’t know about that,” his grandfather said about the alleged bite wound.
”I last saw him about a month ago,” he said of his grandson. He said Weaver came to his home and had dinner with him. “He seemed normal.”
Weaver called his grandfather a day before his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, Clifford Weaver said.
“He called to say hello,” the grandfather said. “Told me he had to go to court.”
A rocket attack struck close to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad early Sunday, though there were no deaths and damage was minimal.
The attack occurred just before 3:30 a.m. local time, The Associated Press reported, citing a spokesman for U.S. military operations in Iraq.
It was the 19th attack targeting the embassy or U.S. troops stationed elsewhere in Iraq since October, according to The Guardian.
No group has claimed responsibility for the strikes, the newspaper reported, though they are blamed on Iranbacked fighters.
Attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in December prompted the U.S. to kill top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, setting the region on edge.