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Suspect Held in Day Care Stabbing; 3 Babies and 2 Adults Are Hurt Day Care Worker Stabs 3 Infants and 2 Adults in Queens, Police Say
(about 2 hours later)
Three infants, including a 3-day-old child, and two adults were in critical but stable condition after being stabbed at a day care facility in Queens on Friday by an employee who then cut her own wrist, the police said. Kayla Cho woke up shortly after 3:30 a.m. on Friday to the sound of screaming coming from a home on the block where she lives. Another neighbor, Mike Hsu heard loud thuds. Soon the high-pitched scream turned into a cry for help from what neighbors described as a day care in a red brick townhouse in Queens.
The stabbing occurred at about 3:40 a.m. at the facility, a residential day care center in the Flushing section of Queens, the police said. The infants, all of whom are younger than a month, were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital after the stabbing. One of the adults who was stabbed was the father of one of the infants, the police said; he was stabbed in the leg. The other adult was a co-worker of the employee and was stabbed in the torso, the police said. “A woman was screaming, ‘Help me! Somebody just help me!” Ms. Cho said.
All three infants, two girls and a boy, were in critical condition; one of the girls sustained more serious injuries than the others, said Juanita Holmes, assistant chief in the Police Department’s Patrol Borough Queens North. Moments later, the police swarmed the block and discovered a ghastly scene: three infants, including a 3-day-old child and two adults, had been stabbed by an employee who then cut her own wrist.
The stabbings occurred at about 3:40 a.m. at the facility, a residential day care center in the Flushing neighborhood, the police said. The infants, all of whom were less than a month old, were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. One of the adults who was stabbed was the father of one of the infants, the police said; he was stabbed in the leg. The other adult was a co-worker of the employee and was stabbed in the torso, the police said. All of the victims were in critical but stable condition.
The facility was first identified as a day care center but according to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, the facility was not a licensed or regulated child care program. Monica Mahaffey, a spokeswoman for the agency, said that state regulated child care programs are prohibited from caring for infants less than six weeks of age unless they meet additional requirements.
Some neighbors said they had seen pregnant Chinese women frequenting the facility, raising suspicions among some of them that it was also operating as a birthing hotel for Chinese visitors who want to secure American citizenship for their children.
Ms. Cho said there were “many people living there, many kids.” She and other neighbors said they saw women who appeared to have arrived pregnant from China at the home.
Sheng Long Peng, 70, who lives next to the building housing the day care, said he had seen the homeowner, who is from California, arrive in his car with pregnant women.
Another neighbor, Bryan Kim, 19, said he also noticed pregnant women showing up at the home.
“About a month ago I saw two women come out, both pregnant,” he said. “My mom and I had never seen them before.”
But some officials also suggested that the home may have also served as a maternity facility for Chinese women who are in the United States legally but have no relatives to help them. City Council member Peter Koo, who represents the neighborhood, said that it was a Chinese tradition for women to rest and be cared for a month after they give birth. When family is not available, often in immigrant communities, businesses may fill the caretaker role.
“If they don’t have family they rely on outside support,” Mr. Koo said, adding that he’s “not sure that’s what this place did.”
State Assemblyman Ron Kim, who also represents the neighborhood, said that the home where the infants were stabbed had been registered as a business, but not as a day care center.
On Friday morning all three infants, two girls and a boy, were in critical condition; one of the girls sustained more serious injuries than the others, said Juanita Holmes, assistant chief in the Police Department’s Patrol Borough Queens North.
When officers first arrived at the location, the employee who had cut her own wrist was unconscious, the police said. But she regained consciousness after officers applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, and the employee, 52, was placed in police custody.When officers first arrived at the location, the employee who had cut her own wrist was unconscious, the police said. But she regained consciousness after officers applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, and the employee, 52, was placed in police custody.
Two knives were recovered at the scene, the police said. Two police investigators in white crime scene suits went in and out of the home all Friday morning. An officer behind the house guarded a large, white passenger van.
The day care facility is inside a house in Flushing that is home to multiple families and nine infants, the police said. It was not immediately clear whether the facility was registered with the state as a licensed day care center. Two knives were recovered at the scene, the police said. Also visible Friday morning beside the townhouse’s welcome mat and next to a Pampers box was a purple puddle of blood.
The names of the five victims and the employee were not released. No information was immediately available about the motive.
Assistant Chief Holmes said that the police had no previous calls to the home but that New York City’s 311 hotline received a complaint in 2011 about crying children there.Assistant Chief Holmes said that the police had no previous calls to the home but that New York City’s 311 hotline received a complaint in 2011 about crying children there.
The day care facility is inside a house in Flushing that is home to multiple families and nine infants, the police said.
The names of the five victims and the employee were not released. No information was immediately available about the motive.