A teenager from New York, previously involved in the 2019 robbery and killing of Barnard student Tessa Majors, finds himself incarcerated once more after initially serving a light sentence in a juvenile facility.
Zyairr Davis, as detailed by CrimeOnline, admitted guilt in 2021 for his involvement in the attempted robbery and subsequent fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Majors. At the time of the crime, Davis was just 13 years old.
Due to the Raise the Age legislation, Davis received an 18-month term in a juvenile detention center. Although his exact release date remains uncertain, by 2023, Davis was implicated in another violent incident in Harlem.
According to FOX News Digital, Davis and two accomplices allegedly fired into a crowd as a retaliatory act for the murder of a gang associate.
A criminal complaint states, “Each aimed and fired multiple gunshots in the direction of the group of people standing on the southeast corner of Lenox Avenue and West 131st Street.”
Police apprehended Davis a few days later, placing him in the Horizon Juvenile Detention Center located in the Bronx.
In September, while locked up at the center, he allegedly got into a fight with other inmates and then attacked a youth counselor with the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), according to a criminal complaint.
He was subsequently charged as an adult with assault, harassment, and related charges.
Following the incident, ACS transferred him to Riker’s Island, an adult prison in the Bronx. His lawyer, Neville Mitchell, argued that Davis likely didn’t get the help he needed while in the juvenile facility.
“They always go back to ‘He was a poor kid who had a bad childhood,’” Retired NYPD Assistant Commissioner of Youth Services Kevin O’Connor told The New York Post.
“That’s not the victim’s problem. That’s where government is supposed to step in and do it’s job. You commit a murder you go to jail.”
Tessa Majors Murder
Majors had been walking in Morningside Park in New York, near a staircase entrance, when Davis and two other teens jumped her in an attempted mugging that turned fatal when Majors fought back.
After being stabbed multiple times, Majors crawled, bleeding, up a staircase toward a security desk, but could not be revived once she was taken to a hospital.
Davis was the first of three suspects to be arrested in connection to the murder, but claimed he did not participate in stabbing her.
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Luchiano Lewis and Rashaun Weaver, both teens at the time, were also charged in her death.
Lewis testified in court that they didn’t plan to kill Majors. He also claimed Weaver stabbed Majors, although he didn’t realize what Weaver had done until he saw it on the news the following day.
According to an affidavit, detectives collected DNA underneath Majors’ fingernails, which matched to Weaver.
The affidavit said that the chief medical examiner reported Majors was stabbed multiple times in the torso and “that one of the stab wounds pierced her heart.”
Weaver pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2021. He received a sentence of 14 years to life in prison. He also pleaded guilty to additional unrelated robberies.
Lewis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. He was sentenced to nine years to life behind bars.
“They have no idea what it’s like to try and hail an Uber while sitting on a city bench after being stabbed. No idea what it is like to bleed to death on a New York City street in the presence of strangers,” Majors’ parents later wrote in a statement during Weaver’s trial.
Meanwhile, Davis has reportedly pleaded not guilty to 11 charges related to the Harlem gang shooting.
He’s expected back in court on November 12 for the jail fight charges and December 4 for the Harlem shooting charges.
Check back for updates.
[Feature Photo: Tessa Majors/Handout]
