Tessa Majors, Barnard Student Slain Near Park, Remembered As Talented Musician Excited About College

The Barnard student who was killed near her New York campus at a park during a robbery Wednesday had previously spoken of how excited she was to start school earlier this year.

Tessa Majors, 18, a talented musician and songwriter who had graduated high school in Charlottesville, Virginia, in May, was ready for a new adventure in New York City. In a podcast, she revealed how she was happy to attend.

“It's across the street from Columbia," she said. "It's an all-girls school. I'm really excited about that."

Authorities said that Majors was attacked by several young people who demanded money, but when she fought back, she was stabbed several times in the stomach. The teen tried to climb nearby stairs to get to a college security booth, but she collapsed while the guard was doing his rounds. When he returned, he called 911.

Majors was rushed to the hospital, where she died. 

Morningside Park is reportedly notorious for being the location of attacks on people walking alone and college students from the area – Barnard and Columbia – are warned not to walk there at night. 

Calling Majors' death "terrifying," New York Mayor Bill De Blasio “It's unbelievable to me that that could happen here next to one of our great college campuses."

Majors' family also released a statement in the aftermath of the teen's death. 

"We lost a very special, very talented, and very well-loved young woman. Tess shone bright in this world, and our hearts will never be the same," her family told InsideEdition.com.

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