Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., recently announced the indictment of Kerri Aherne, 43, for allegedly stabbing a 39-year-old woman changing her baby’s diaper inside a bathroom at Macy’s Herald Square in December 2025. The crime—serious in any case— was made even more shocking in that it happened in the heart of holiday season, when the store was packed with thousands of shoppers, sometimes line lines of Labubu hunters at the ground floor Pop Mart included.
Aherne, of Tewskbury, Massachusetts, is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with one count each of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Assault in the First Degree, Assault in the Second Degree and Endangering the Welfare of a Child.
“The thousands of families that visit Manhattan during the holiday season deserve to be safe while shopping and celebrating with their loved ones,” said District Attorney Bragg. “As alleged, Kerri Aherne carried out a horrific and unprovoked stabbing of a mother who was simply caring for her 10-month-old baby. This tourist was attacked inside one of the city’s largest and most frequented department stores, posing public safety implications for employees, visitors, and New Yorkers alike. I wish the victim a swift recovery.”
If Bragg could say more but didn’t, one reason might be that this horror was entirely preventable. Nearly as horrific to Macy’s lovers and New Yorkers in general were the reports that Aherne, who had a history of mental illness, had been released from the Manhattan Psychiatric Center on Ward’s Island, where she’d been confined for a year, that very morning.
Since that day, and until press time, nobody from the mental hospital, or any of the doctors, psychologist social workers and others involved in Aherne’s case have been heard from.
Even if arraignment photos are not the ideal way to judge people, Aherne’s appearance at her arraignment shifted some observers’ outrage from the alleged criminal to the ill-managed mental health system that let such a still sick person go.
As alleged in court documents and statements made on the record in court, on December 11, 2025, prior to the stabbing, Aherne entered the Macy’s in Herald Square, near West 34th Street and 7th Avenue, and purchased a knife. At approximately 3:13 p.m., Aherne entered a seventh-floor bathroom, approached the victim from behind as she was changing her 10-month-old baby’s diaper, and allegedly began stabbing her, unprovoked.
The victim eventually managed to grab the knife from Aherne and throw it to the other end of the bathroom. During the attack, the baby fell from the changing table onto the floor. Aherne was restrained by the victim’s boyfriend and by store security workers until police officers arrived to arrest her on the scene. The victim was taken to the hospital to be treated for her injuries, including two stab wounds to her back and lacerations to her arm and hand that required stitches.