A woman allegedly stabbed a 3-year-old boy to death with a kitchen knife outside an Ohio grocery store in what authorities have described as a random attack.
Little Julian Wood and his mother Margot were both stabbed around 3 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of a Giant Eagle grocery store in North Olmsted, a city 15 miles outside of Cleveland, local officials said.
Officers responded to a report about a possible stabbing in the parking lot and located the suspect, 32-year-old Bionca Ellis, still carrying the kitchen knife she used in the fatal attack, North Olmsted officials said Tuesday.
First responders provided aid to the victims, who were taken to St. John Medical Center, where Julian died from stab wounds suffered to his back and chest, police said.
The boy’s mother was treated at the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
Ellis, who is known to the North Olmsted police department for previous theft charges, was taken into custody without incident.
She has no known violent criminal history.
“The investigation into the motive in this attack is still ongoing, but everything learned thus far points that this was a random act of violence,” police said.
Ellis is currently being held in the North Olmsted Jail on a charge of aggravated murder but may face additional charges at a later date.
In a statement Tuesday, Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones shared her condolences with Wood’s family.
“This was a terrible tragedy for our entire community. As North Olmsted Mayor, and a mother myself, I cannot fathom what this family must be going through. To lose their youngest child in such a violent and senseless manner is absolutely heartbreaking,” Dailey Jones said.
“Our police department continues its ongoing investigation of the crime as we attempt to begin healing and moving forward.”
North Olmsted is offering grief counseling to city workers who responded to the attack.
