14-year-olds plead not guilty in NYC college student's death

Two 14-year-old boys pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder in the death of a Barnard College student who was fatally stabbed during a robbery in a park.

Manhattan prosecutors said that Rashaun Weaver stabbed 18-year-old Tessa Majors during a Dec. 11 robbery and that Luchiano Lewis prevented her from escaping as she called for help.

A 13-year-old has also been charge, but his name has not been released because he is being tried as a juvenile. The Associated Press is identifying the 14-year-olds because of the seriousness of the crime and because they are charged as adults.

Calvin Hunt, right, and Cameron Hunt, 13, from the Harlem neighborhood of New York, leave court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in New York. The pair attended the court appearance of Rashaun Weaver, who was charged with second-degree murder and robbery in the December attack on 18-year-old Tessa Majors, a Barnard College student. (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

An attorney for Lewis said he had no comment on the charges. A phone message was left with an attorney for Weaver.

Weaver was arrested on Feb. 14 and Lewis was arrested Wednesday after a two-month investigation into the stabbing in Morningside Park near the Barnard campus in upper Manhattan.

“While a criminal process will never fully heal the unimaginable pain suffered by Tessa Majors’ family and friends, this indictment is a significant step forward on the path to justice,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said. “We are committed to holding these young people accountable, and equally committed to a fair process which safeguards their rights. This is how we will achieve true justice for Tessa and her loved ones.”

Inman Majors, center, father of Barnard College student Tessa Majors who was fatally stabbed during a robbery in December, leaves court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in New York. He attended the court appearance of Rashaun Weaver, who is charged with second-degree murder and robbery in the attack on 18-year-old Tessa Majors. (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said, “Detectives, investigators and prosecutors, as well as a grand jury, worked deliberately to ensure that the evidence amassed supported the charges brought, and that now those who allegedly murdered Tessa Majors will be held to account. Nothing can bring her back. That is the tragedy we all must live with.”

Majors, who played in a rock band and aspired to study journalism, was stabbed as she walked through the park in the early evening. She staggered up a flight of stairs to street level and collapsed. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Prosecutors say Majors fought back against her attackers and DNA from her fingernails matched Weaver's DNA. They say Weaver was heard on an audio recording describing hitting Majors victim with a knife.

Inman Majors, father of Barnard College student Tessa Majors who was fatally stabbed during a robbery in December, arrives at court, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in New York. He attended the court appearance of Rashaun Weaver, who was charged with second-degree murder and robbery in the attack on 18-year-old Tessa Majors. (AP PhotoRichard Drew)

Weaver has also been charged with robbing another person in the park.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)