Death In NYC

Imagine for one awful moment that you’re a grieving Virginia parent planning the funeral of your talented teenaged daughter who was stabbed to death in a New York City park last week.

What could possibly make you feel worse?

How about watching the amateur-hour antics of that city’s officials as they point fingers, blame the victim and let the suspected killer get away?

As you no doubt know, 18-year-old Tessa Majors of Charlottesville was killed last week in Morningside Park near Harlem apparently by a trio of middle school thugs who were in the park looking to rob - and stab - people.

Her death stunned not only her friends and family in Virginia, but also New York’s mayor who said during a press conference, “It’s terrifying to think that that could happen anywhere. It’s unbelievable to me that that could happen here, next to one of our great college campuses.”

Tessa was a first semester freshman at the exclusive all-women’s Barnard College. She was a musician in a punk rock band and a graduate of St. Anne’s-Belfield school in Charlottesville. Her dad is a JMU professor and author.

By Friday, New York police had arrested a 13-year-old boy on charges of felony murder, meaning authorities believe that he was one of the creeps who robbed Tessa, but perhaps not the killer.

THIRTEEN YEARS OLD. Chew on that.

The next day a 14-year-old was brought in for questioning and released, while cops were also looking for the slasher, another 13-year old.

On Sunday, things began to unravel. First, during a radio interview, a police union boss seemed to blame Tessa for her own death.

"An 18-year-old college student at one of the most prestigious universities is murdered in a park, and what I'm understanding, she was in the park to buy marijuana," said Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins. "And you think about that, we don't enforce marijuana laws anymore. We're basically hands-off on the enforcement of marijuana."

"So here, we have a student murdered by a 13-year-old and we have a common denominator of marijuana. You know, my question to the people of New York City is, 'Why is this happening?”

WTH?

This appears to be the first the family heard about their daughter doing some pot shopping in the park. Her friends say she was jogging. Police so far haven’t explained what the girl was doing in the park shortly after dark. And frankly it doesn’t matter. She didn’t deserve to die.

Good job, Mullins.

Even if the union guy is right and cops have been ordered not to enforce marijuana laws, have they also been told to ignore robbery laws? It appears that’s what this was: A crime that began with robbery and ended in murder.

According to NBC, the Majors family shot back: "The remarks by Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins we find deeply inappropriate, as they intentionally or unintentionally direct blame onto Tess, a young woman, for her own murder," “We would ask Mr. Mullins not to engage in such irresponsible public speculation, just as the NYPD asked our family not to comment as it conducts the investigation."

Mullins and Mayor Bill DeBlasio have been dueling recently over charges by Mullins that the mayor’s policies have resulted in an uptick in crime.

Later on Monday, the boy suspected of killing Tessa was being brought in to police by “an adult” when he jumped out of a car and ran away.

The New York Post reports that as I write this, a manhunt is underway in Harlem.

New York needs to get its act together. According to news reports, Morningside Park is in the midst of a crime wave. So far this year, there have been 20 reported robberies in the park, compared with just seven the year before.

I’m not an expert in crime prevention, but it seems to me city officials have two choices when they see a sharp increase in numbers such as those: Put more cops in the park or close the damn thing after dark.

Whatever her reason was for venturing into Morningside Park, once there, Tessa Majors was attacked by a group of soulless savages.

Cops need to cage the suspects. And politicians need to stop trying to score points off the horrific murder of a young girl from Virginia.