A boy, 13, was arrested in the killing of a first-year Barnard College student in New York City. Tessa Majors, 18, was walking in Morningside Park at 7 p.m. Wednesday when she was fatally stabbed, reports the New York Times. Majors was approached by three people, said Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison. There was a struggle, and one of the attackers pulled out a knife and stabbed Majors several times. The attackers fled and Majors staggered up a flight of stairs and onto the street, where a school security guard found her and called 911. The thirteen year old pointed police to the two other alleged assailants, both 14.
The park where Majors was killed is in a Harlem precinct that has grown safer over the years, but residents have raised concerns about persistent safety issues in the park — even as the neighborhood around it improved, and playgrounds and ball fields replaced patches that were once strewn with crack vials. Assaults have fallen slightly over the last year in the precinct, but robberies have increased, with many victims targeted for personal electronics. As of Dec. 8, there had been 20 reported robberies inside Morningside Park or on its perimeter this year, compared to seven in the same period last year. Since June, five people reported being robbed on or near the staircase near the spot where Majors was killed. Recently several teenagers were arrested in a pattern of robberies in the area.
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Why isn’t this park patrolled by police regularly. There should be a police presence continuously regardless of the cost. And cameras should be installed all over the park and surrounding area also. Look at the Howard Beach murder of the young woman a few years ago, after the murder, cameras were installed. Columbia University should demand this from the city.