Suspect accused of stabbing mother changing diaper at Macy's Herald Square indicted by grand jury
MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) -- A woman was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday after allegedly stabbing a tourist from California in a Macy's bathroom as the victim was changing her 10-month-old daughter.
The incident happened on Dec. 11, just before 3 p.m. at the flagship Herald Square store during the heart of the holiday shopping season.
Authorities say Kerri Aherne, 43, entered the Macy's bathroom on the 7th floor and stabbed the victim, causing the baby to fall from the changing table to the floor. The baby was not injured.
The victim managed to subdue Aherne, with the help of the baby's father, before she was held by store security.
The 38-year-old victim, who was visiting from California, was stabbed in the back and slashed in the arm and was taken to the hospital, where she was said to be stable.
The victim and the child's father work for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Authorities say the suspect was discharged from a Manhattan psychiatric ward the morning of the attack, where she had been for over a year.
Aherne told authorities that voices in her head told her to kill someone or she would be killed, so she purchased a knife from Macy's and stabbed the mother while she was changing her baby's diaper.
Prosecutors said Aherne had been arrested in 2018 in Massachusetts for posting on Facebook that she wanted to kill Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
She left Massachusetts in an Uber in 2024 while out of the hospital on temporary leave and allegedly said she could not tolerate hospitals any longer and would rather be in prison.
The charges against Aherne will remain sealed until she is arraigned on her indictment on Jan. 7
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