Family of slain Barnard student blast police union head, marijuana remarks

Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins seemed to blame 18-year-old Tessa Majors in her death on a Sunday radio interview

Basing his understanding of Major’s murder last week in Morningside Park on drugs –  “she was in the park to buy marijuana,” Mullins said

“The remarks Ed Mullins we find deeply inappropriate, as they intentionally or unintentionally direct blame onto Tessa, a young woman, for her own murder,” the victims family said

Freshman Barnard College student Tessa Majors was stabbed to death in Morningside Park near 116th Street in Manhattan

A 13-year-old boy has been questioned and released, a 16-year-old is being sought for the stabbing, while charges
against a 14-year-old were dropped Saturday

NY Mayor Bill de Blasio observed in a tweet Sunday evening calling Mullins’ remarks “heartless.”

NY police union boss has angered murder victim, Tessa Majors’ family and the establishment in New York, by attributing her death to a quest for drugs

The family of slain Barnard student Tessa Majors on Monday blasted the police union leader who linked her murder in a New York area park,  to an attempt to buy marijuana.
The family of Majors, an 18-year-old college freshman, said in a statement. “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.”
The outspoken Mullins, whose adversarial relationship with New York city Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD leadership and is well documented, stirred more controversy when he said in a Sunday radio interview that based on his understanding of Major’s murder last week in Morningside Park “she was in the park to buy marijuana.”
“And you think about that, we don’t enforce marijuana laws anymore. We’re basically hands-off on the enforcement of marijuana,” Mullins said. “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?’”

Police Union leader, Ed Mullins, [photo], stirred controversy when he said in a Sunday radio interview that based on his understanding of Tessa Major’s murder last week in Morningside Park, in Manhattan, NY on the belief that the college student “was in the park to buy marijuana”

Barnard student Tessa Majors’ murder becomes a political football as police union chief claims she was murdered while trying to buy weed.
The NYPD has not said why Majors was in the park. A 13-year-old has been arrested and admitted he was at the scene with two other teens. One, 14, was arrested, then let go while authorities build a stronger case against him. The other, 16, is believed to be the stabber but has not yet been arrested.
The mayor in a tweet Sunday evening called Mullins’ remarks “heartless.”
“It’s infuriating,” he added. “We don’t shame victims in this city.”
Mullins, after reading the family’s statement, said his comments “were never directed at the victim, but rather de Blasio.”
“I can’t imagine what [the family is] going through,” Mullins added.
Majors’ family thanked those, including thousands of strangers, who have expressed their condolences, and the statement also said the family “is interested in knowing what exactly happened to Tess and who committed her murder.”
“We believe, for the immediate safety of the community and the surrounding schools, that should be everyone’s top priority and we are grateful to the men and women of the NYPD for all of their efforts,” the statement said.