Woman Randomly Stabs Tourist in Macy’s Bathroom

A 39 year-old Californian tourist visiting Macy’s with her family was stabbed in one of the department store’s bathrooms on Dec. 11, in what police are deeming an unprovoked assault.

The unidentified victim, who was reportedly changing her child’s diaper when she was attacked, was listed in stable condition after being rushed to Bellevue at around 3:15 p.m. She was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, Dec. 13, after making a rapid recovery.

Police have arrested Kerri Aherne–a reportedly homeless 43 year-old woman from Tewksbury, Massachusetts–in connection with the crime, and a judge ordered her held without bail on the evening of Dec. 12. (Aherne has no relation to the author of this piece).

The victim was found unconscious by police with multiple stab wounds in her back and a laceration on her left arm, cops told Chelsea News. Her child, who is 10 months old, reportedly fell off the changing table and suffered injuries including forehead swelling.

Aherne has been charged with attempted murder, multiple counts of assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and endangering the welfare of a child. She’s due back in court on Dec. 17.

According to ABC7, both the victim and her husband are members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and live in the city of Jurupa Valley. The husband was on the scene, and police say that he disarmed Aherne after the stabbing transpired. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office also said that the victim helped “subdue” Aherne herself during the stabbing.

Aherne had previously been arrested in Massachusetts back in 2018, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said, for threatening to kill Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren—and shoot somebody at a police station—on Facebook. She has reportedly been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a severe form of mental illness known for causing hallucinations or delusions.

Aherne had reportedly been discharged from the Manhattan Psychiatric Center, where she had been staying for a year, on the day of the incident. The D.A. said that she had first arrived in New York City in 2024, after catching an Uber on a “temporary leave” pass from Massachusetts.

After being arrested in connection with the Macy’s stabbing, Aherne told the police that “voices” in her head had essentially told her to “kill or be killed”; she purchased a knife from Macy’s itself and conducted the attack soon thereafter, later telling the authorities that she’d rather go to jail than to a hospital, which she could reportedly “not tolerate any longer.”

A Macy’s spokesperson told the press that “we are deeply saddened about the incident that took place today as the safety of our customers and colleagues is our top priority. We kindly defer any further questions to the local authorities.”