Mother stabbed by a stranger while changing her baby’s diaper in a department store bathroom
12/15/2025 4:32 pm PST
NEW YORK (TCN) -- A woman was stabbed while changing her baby’s diaper in a department store bathroom, and her alleged attacker has been charged with attempted murder.
The victim, whose name has not been made public, is a 39-year-old from California who was visiting New York with her husband and three children, ages 10 months, 12, and 15, CBS News reports.
She had taken the 10-month-old into a seventh-floor bathroom to change her diaper while the rest of her family waited outside. Her husband witnessed the female suspect enter the bathroom after his wife and baby and then heard screaming, according to CBS News. He went into the bathroom and reportedly helped his wife subdue the suspect until the store’s security guards arrived.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by CBS, the baby fell from the changing table during the attack and suffered bruising and swelling. Her mother was stabbed in the back and arms and was taken to the hospital, where she got several stitches.
The suspect, Kerri Aherne, 48, was taken into custody and charged with attempted murder, assault with a weapon, assault, and possession of a weapon, according to CBS. She had previously been arrested for threats made against Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Facebook in 2018.
Aherne allegedly told police she had just been released from inpatient psychiatric care when she attacked the woman in the Macy’s bathroom, CBS reports. She allegedly said voices in her head told her to purchase a knife and attack someone at the department store.
WABC reports Aherne was ordered held without bail before appearing in court Dec. 12. The outlet reports that she is homeless and has no prior arrest history in New York.
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