Woman stabs 3-year-old boy in random attack at Ohio grocery store

US News

From Isabelle Keane

A woman is accused of stabbing a three-year-old boy to death with a kitchen knife outside a grocery store in Ohio. Authorities described the attack as random.

Little Julian Wood and his mother Margot were stabbed to death around 3 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of a Giant Eagle grocery store in North Olmsted, a town 15 miles outside of Cleveland, local authorities said.

Officers responded to a report of a possible stabbing in the parking lot and found 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 treated the victims and took them to St. John Medical Center, where Julian died of stab wounds to the back and chest, police said.

The boy’s mother was treated in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Ellis, who is known to North Olmsted police for previous theft charges, was taken into custody without incident.

There is no known history of violent crimes against her.

“The investigation into the motive for this attack is still ongoing, but everything known so far indicates that it 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 he may face additional charges at a later date.

In a statement Tuesday, Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones expressed her condolences to Wood’s family.

“This was a terrible tragedy for our entire community. As the mayor of North Olmsted and a mother myself, I cannot imagine what this family is going through. To lose their youngest child in such a violent and senseless way is absolutely heartbreaking,” said Dailey Jones.

“Our police department continues its ongoing investigation into the crime as we attempt to resolve the matter and move forward.”

North Olmsted is offering grief counseling to city employees who responded to the attack.