A female, who’s accused of stabbing a 1-year-old boy in a stroller in front of his parents on a Philadelphia street Saturday — as well as a 24-year-old woman on a different street hours earlier — was out on bail in connection with a 2022 stabbing in New York City.
Takeira Hester, 28, was out on bail when she missed her Thursday hearing in an assault case for allegedly stabbing a 31-year-old man who tried to break up a fight between Hester and another woman on a lower Manhattan train in 2022, authorities told the New York Post.
Hester apparently made it down to Philadelphia just two days later, where officials said she engaged in two knife attacks. Around 8:30 a.m. a 24-year-old woman suffered stab wounds to her chest and finger on the 1300 block of Chancellor Street, WTXF-TV reported.
A few hours later, a mother and father were walking with their twins using a stroller outside Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel when police said a woman rushed up and stabbed one of the children, the station said.
“It looked like this female just rushed up to them and nothing was said – completely random,” Philadelphia Police Capt. Frank Banford told reporters Saturday, according to the Post. “[She] tried to stab both children but got one child…in each arm.”
The children’s father ran after the attacker, who got away but left behind a bag that contained enough clues to help cops track her down, Banford told the paper.
Philadelphia police told Blaze News they arrested Hester around 7:19 p.m. Saturday in the 400 block of North 63rd Street and charged her with attempted murder, aggravated assault, possession of instruments of crime, and recklessly endangering another person.
Both stabbing victims — the 24-year-old woman and the 1-year-old boy — reportedly were in stable condition, WTXF said. Banford told the Post that Hester used a “long knife” in both Philadelphia attacks. Hester was being held on $4 million bail, WCAU reported.
