A Manhattan grand jury has indicted a 43-year-old woman accused of stabbing a mother as she changed her baby in a Macy’s bathroom last week, charging her with attempted murder and other offenses, prosecutors said.
Kerri Aherne was indicted following the Dec. 11 attack inside the Herald Square department store.
Her defense attorney spoke to reporters Wednesday during a court appearance but said he could not discuss his client’s condition or what may have led to the alleged attack.
What You Need To Know
A grand jury indicted Kerri Aherne on attempted murder and other charges
Prosecutors say the stabbing happened in a Macy’s bathroom on Dec. 11
Authorities say the victim’s infant was not injured during the attack
Aherne is being held without bail and faces up to 25 years if convicted
“I do have to get some more information myself,” attorney Kevin Sylvan said. “We’re collecting it through my investigator and other staff people, and we have to talk with other medical professionals who’ve been treating her in the past.”
Court records show Aherne is from Tewksbury, Massachusetts, though her attorney said she had more recently been living in New York City.
“She had been a resident at a hospital in New York for a little over a year —maybe a year and a quarter — having come down from Massachusetts pretty much on a whim,” Sylvan said.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Aherne has psychiatric issues and was released from Manhattan Psychiatric Center the morning of the attack.
Investigators said she told police that voices in her head instructed her to kill someone or she would be killed.
According to prosecutors, Aherne entered Macy’s in the afternoon, bought a knife and went into a bathroom, where she allegedly attacked a 38-year-old tourist from California without provocation as the woman was changing her infant daughter’s diaper.
Prosecutors said the baby fell from the changing table to the floor during the assault but was not injured. Authorities said the mother was able to restrain Aherne until Macy’s security guards detained her.
“Her condition is at the moment stable but of course they can change at any time and given the nature of the conditions or the nature of her circumstances, they likely would change at a moment’s notice,” Sylvan said.
A judge ordered Aherne held without bail.
Prosecutors said Aherne has no criminal history in New York but was arrested in 2018 in her Massachusetts hometown after allegedly posting on Facebook about killing Sen. Elizabeth Warren and threatening to shoot someone at a local police station.
Aherne pleaded not guilty at her initial arraignment last week but has not yet entered a plea on the grand jury indictment.
She is scheduled to be arraigned on those charges as soon as Jan. 7.
If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison on charges that include attempted murder and endangering the welfare of a child.