Woman allegedly stabs 3-year-old boy to death in random attack at grocery store parking lot
A woman allegedly stabbed a 3-year-old boy to death outside an Ohio grocery store in a random attack, according to police.
The boy, Julian, and his mother, Margot Wood, were both stabbed around 3 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of a Giant Eagle in North Olmsted, about 15 miles outside of Cleveland, according to North Olmsted police.
Bionca Ellis allegedly stabbed Julian multiple times as he sat in the shopping cart, and when Julian's mom tried to pull him out, Ellis also stabbed her, according to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley.
Julian suffered stab wounds to the back and cheek, police said. Wood, 37, survived with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Ellis, 32, was taken into custody, police said.
Ellis and the victims didn't know each other, North Olmsted police Det. Sgt. Matt Beck said at a news conference Tuesday, calling it a "random act of violence."
Ellis first allegedly stole two knives from the Volunteers of America Thrift Store next to the grocery store, and then walked to the Giant Eagle where she saw Wood and her son, prosecutors said. She allegedly followed them and immediately attacked the 3-year-old, prosecutors said.
"As a mother, I cannot even begin to fathom this sense of loss that this family is going through," North Olmsted Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones said at Tuesday's news conference. "The city and I all share in your loss."
"This case is truly devastating," O’Malley said in a statement. "We will do everything in our power to bring justice for Julian Wood and the Wood family.”
Prosecutors said Ellis is charged with one count of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault, one count of endangering children, one count of tampering with evidence and one count of misdemeanor theft. She has not yet been arraigned, prosecutors said.
