Police said witnesses had no time to stop the stabbing that United States investigators believe was random.
Officers arrested 32-year-old Bionca Ellis, of Cleveland, while she was walking from the parking lot with a kitchen knife in her hand on Tuesday NZT, police said.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Ellis on multiple charges today, including aggravated murder and attempted murder. She earlier was being held on a US$1 million ($1.6m) bond.
Police dashcam and body camera video show a bystander pointing police towards Ellis after the stabbing. Officers ordered her to the ground and handcuffed her without any resistance, the knife by her side.
Ellis was inside the Giant Eagle grocery in the Cleveland suburb of North Olmsted when she saw the boy and his mother near the front and followed them into the parking lot, said Sergeant Matt Beck, a detective with North Olmsted police.
The boy’s mother was about to load her groceries into her vehicle when Ellis ran at them with a knife, stabbing the boy twice, Beck said. The boy died at a hospital.
The county medical examiner identified the boy as 3-year-old Julian Wood. His mother, Margot Wood, was treated at a hospital for a stab wound to her shoulder, police said. She was stabbed after trying to pull the boy out of the cart during the attack, the county prosecutor’s office said.
Crime scene tape is seen where a 3-year-old boy was fatally stabbed by a woman as he sat in a grocery cart. Photo / AP
Calls to a listing for Ellis went unanswered. Court records did not show whether she has a lawyer who could comment on the allegations. She did not speak during a brief court appearance on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said Ellis stole the knife from a store next to the Giant Eagle before she walked into the supermarket.
Ellis had no known previous interactions with the mother and her son and she had no history of being violent, Beck said.
“Our hearts go out to the two victims of what appears to be a random act of violence,” North Olmsted Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones said, according to ABC News.
“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.
“I know that all the residents of North Olmsted join me in sharing their profound grief.”
The Giant Eagle chain said they were “heartbroken to learn of the passing of the young victim” and added: “Our thoughts are with the child, his mother and their loved ones during this unimaginably difficult time”.
