The mother of one of the suspects in the fatal stabbing of Barnard College student Tessa Majors was arrested for stabbing a woman in a fight 13 years ago when her son was just 16 months old.
Police sources and neighbors identified the mother who was charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment after the incident at her Jamaica, Queens home.
‘Katima Minton pulled a knife and lunged at the victim, whose identity was withheld, after they started fighting,’ the New York Post quoted from their story in August 2006.
The victim was treated at a New York hospital and was later released, the Post reported.
Cops claimed during a fight in 2006 Katima Minton (right) ‘pulled a knife and lunged at the victim, whose identity was withheld, after they started fighting’. Her son (left) was only 16 months old at the time
Now he is one of the teen suspects in the December 11 fatal stabbing of Barnard College student Tessa Majors (pictured)
Minton is pictured in social media photographs with her son – who has not been named.
A suspect in the killing has told investigators that the 18-year-old victim may have bitten down on an accomplice’s finger, prompting the deadly knife attack.
The accomplice, the 14-year-old boy, was enraged when he was bitten and stabbed Majors, the suspect told investigators, sources told the New York Post.
The accomplice was brought in for questioning after he was picked up by police in the Bronx Thursday.
He was later released pending a court-ordered DNA test, officials said.
The youth was taken into custody following a two-week search.
Police had been hunting for the suspect since Majors was attacked in Manhattan’s Morningside Park.
Majors was stabbed while walking in the park just before 7pm – two days before the start of final exams at Barnard, which is an all-women’s school that is part of the Ivy League’s Columbia University.
She staggered up a flight of stairs to street level and collapsed in a crosswalk.
It’s believed the 14-year-old detained Thursday was one of three male juveniles involved in the fatal attack on the college freshman.
The two other teenage boys were present at the time, police said.
Tessa Majors (pictured) was fighting for her life when she was stabbed to death in a Manhattan park during a botched mugging, police said
Pictured are the steps leading out of Morningside Park, where Tessa Majors was stabbed to death on December 11
One of them, a 13-year-old boy, was arrested December 13 and charged as a juvenile with felony murder.
He told detectives he was at the park with the other youths during the botched mugging, but wasn’t the one who stabbed Majors.
The youth is currently being held in a juvenile detention facility, and investigators are also reportedly in the process of trying to get his DNA.
Meanwhile, a third juvenile suspect was questioned for several hours, also on December 13, but police let him go.
Cops, as they searched for the alleged stabber had made the unusual move of releasing his photo, but not his name, asking for the public’s help in locating the youth.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison tweeted on Thursday morning that the 14-year-old had been found.
Cops, as they searched for the suspects after Tessa Major (left) was slain had made the unusual move of releasing photos of the alleged stabber (right), but not his name, asking for the public’s help in locating the youth
Investigators told the Post that he may have laid low to allow his bitten finger to heal.
‘He must not have had a bite mark’ on his finger when he was taken in, a source familiar with the case said, reports the Post. ‘If he did, that would have been enough corroborating evidence to hold him’.
Harrison said finding the youth ‘was a significant development in the investigative process’.
‘After being taken into custody, his attorneys were present at the 26 precinct for the entire investigative process.
‘Although he has since been released to the custody of his attorneys, the investigation remains very active. Our detectives are the best at what they do and are committed to finding justice for all parties involved’.
A police spokeswoman refused to answer questions about where and how the teen was located.