A homeless woman charged with attempted murder in New York City had just been released from a psychiatric facility, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.
She is accused of stabbing a tourist who was changing a baby’s diaper at the flagship Macy’s store in Manhattan on Thursday.
Suspect Kerri Aherne, 43, formerly of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, came to New York in 2024, becoming homeless in the process. She ended up at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center for over a year before being released Thursday, according to the amNY news site.
In the seventh-floor bathroom of the store, Ms. Aherne found the victim, a 38-year-old woman from Jurupa Valley, California, 47 miles east of Los Angeles, in the middle of changing the diaper.
Ms. Aherne is accused of stabbing the tourist in the back. The victim then wrestled her to the ground and incurred more knife wounds to her arm, according to WNBC-TV.
The victim is expected to recover, and her 10-month-old baby was unharmed, according to The Associated Press.
Authorities said Ms. Aherne went to the Macy’s, bought a knife and later confessed to looking for someone to kill, egged on by voices in her head telling her to kill before she herself was killed, according to amNY.
Ms. Aherne is also alleged to have told police that she did not want any more treatment at mental hospitals and preferred to be incarcerated, according to the news site.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to KNBC-TV that the victim is one of its employees and was in New York with her husband, another department employee.
According to New York court records, Ms. Aherne faces assault and child endangerment charges along with the attempted murder count.
Ms. Aherne pleaded not guilty to the charges Friday and is due back in court Wednesday.
She previously faced arrest in 2018 for getting a gun to shoot someone at a police station and for making an alleged death threat against Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, on social media, according to WNBC-TV.
Macy’s told the New York Post that it has expanded its New York City Police Department detail inside the store, adding, “We are deeply saddened about the incident that took place today, as the safety of our customers and colleagues is our top priority.”
