Tragedy ‘follows’
TESSA SUSPECT, 13, BERATED BY HIS UNCLE
The youngest suspect in the stabbing death of Barnard freshman Tessa Majors caught it from both sides during an interrogation after his arrest —from detectives trying to put the pieces together, and from his angry uncle who berated him for being a “f—king follower.”
A day after two teens being charged as adults pleaded not guilty to murder and robbery charges, a third suspect appeared Thursday in family court, where prosecutors played a video of his police interrogation.
In it, the 13-year-old boy delivers a play-by-play of the Dec. 11 attack — and gets an earful from his outraged uncle, who had warned him about hanging out with the wrong crowd.
The boy said he was looking on as his friends, Rashaun Weaver, 14, and Luciano Lewis, 14, attacked Majors in Morningside Park.
The suspect fingered Weaver as the stabber, saying that while he did not see Weaver plunge the knife into the victim, he did see feathers flying from her coat. Earlier, before the stabbing, he said in the video, he’d picked up the knife and gave it back to Weaver after Weaver dropped it on the street.
“Is that the knife that Rashaun used?” a detective asked.
“Yes,” the boy answered. “What color was that knife?”
“Red.”
The boy said the murder weapon was different than the knife he had in his own backpack, which he said he was holding for a friend.
During a break from questioning at the precinct, but with the camera still rolling, the uncle lit into the boy about the knife and all the bad decisions that had gotten him into trouble.
“You don’t see what you f—king got yourself into?” the uncle says. “Because you hanging out with the wrong f—king people, instead of bringing your a— home like you’re supposed to. What do you have a f—king knife in your book bag for? Like I say, you shouldn’t be letting anyone put anything in your bag. What did I tell you about being a follower? I told you about being a f—king follower.”
Then, the uncle tries to explain the sobering reality of the situation.
“This ain’t like school where you get a f—king suspension and you go somewhere else for like five days,” the uncle says. “This ain’t like that. All you need to do is go to f—king school and bring your a— home. F—king police record and every f—king thing.”
The boy has been charged as a juvenile with murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon. He told cops that after the attack, he went home to walk his dog and watch YouTube.
Majors was jogging down a set of steps in the park on W. 116th St. near Morningside Drive shortly before 7 p.m. when she was attacked.
The random murder of the promising student from Charlottesville, Va., who played in a band with her high school buddies, put the college campus and neighboring Harlem community on edge.
The teen was arrested by police who said they saw him in a nearby building. The officer said the boy was wearing clothes, including red sneakers, that matched the description of one of the suspects captured on camera.
The frustrated uncle said the last thing the boy needed to do was to rob someone.
“Like you f—king need something,” the uncle said. “You walking around with $200 worth of shoes on your f—king feet. Now they’re charging you with robbery like you need to sit there and rob somebody. F—king hurt me, yo. You really f—king just hurt me. Any other f-king thing you could have did, except for this.”
But the uncle did not abandon the boy. After they cried together and hugged, the surrogate father promised to be there for him.
“As soon as they call me I’ll be there,” the uncle said. “Hopefully tomorrow I will know. I gotta talk to somebody and find out what to do next.”