3-year-old fatally stabbed, mother injured in random attack outside Ohio grocery store

A 3-year-old child was fatally stabbed and his mother injured in what police say was a random attack outside of a grocery store in Ohio.

The stabbings occurred around 3 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of a Giant Eagle in North Olmsted, about 20 miles southwest of Cleveland.

The suspect, Bionca Ellis, 32, of Cleveland, “obtained a butcher knife or some type of kitchen knife” at a Volunteers of America thrift store and then walked to the Giant Eagle, Sgt. Matt Beck, a North Olmsted police detective, said at a news conference.

Video footage inside the grocery store showed Ellis saw Margot Wood and her son and followed them to the parking lot, Beck said.

“Somewhere near their vehicle, Ms. Ellis then attacked the two of them,” he said.

Authorities performed life-saving measures on the mother and child, but the 3-year-old died of his injuries. Beck said the boy, who was in the front seat of the shopping cart, was stabbed in his face and back and Wood in her shoulder.

It’s not clear how Ellis obtained the knife or whether she paid for it, Beck told reporters.

A motive in the stabbings is also unclear. Beck said there was no altercation inside the grocery store before the attack.

“The video showed they just passed each other,” he said. “Ms Ellis turned around, looked at her and followed her out the door.”

He said it appeared to have been a random attack and that after speaking to the mother, there seemed to be no connection between them.

Ellis was arrested on a charge of aggravated murder. She was carrying the knife when she was taken into custody, Beck said.

Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones said she was “deeply saddened” by what happened.

“Our hearts go out to the victims of what appears to be a random act of violence,” she said in a statement.

North Olmsted police previously arrested Ellis on an allegation of petty theft out of a Walmart. She was also arrested following a non-violent crime in Florida, Beck said. He said there was nothing in her past to suggest “that she has any violent tendencies.” It’s not clear if she has obtained an attorney.