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The homeless Massachusetts woman charged in the stabbing of another woman in the bathroom of Macy’s in New York City has a history of mental illness, was released from a psychiatric hospital hours before the attack and claimed voices in her head said she “had to kill someone” or be killed.
Kerri Aherne, 43, allegedly stabbed a California woman in the back on Thursday as she was changing her baby inside a bathroom in the iconic Macy’s Herald Square.
The victim, who has only been identified by her employment with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital and was discharged on Friday.
Aherne was charged with attempted murder, two counts of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with what police have described as an unprovoked attack. She is being held without bail.
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Court records show Aherne, whose last known address was in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, has a long history of struggling with mental illness.
Prosecutors said in a criminal complaint that Aherne told police she had been discharged from Manhattan Psychiatric Center the morning of Thursday’s stabbing after a yearlong stay.
Aherne said she left Massachusetts in an Uber in the summer of 2024 while out of a hospital on a temporary leave pass, according to the prosecution’s bail application. The prosecution also stated that Aherne said she could not tolerate hospitals any longer and would rather go to prison than be returned to a hospital.
She also allegedly said she had purchased a knife at Macy’s and looked for someone to kill because “voices in her head told her she had to kill someone, or she would be killed.”
In 2019, records show she was deemed an incapacitated person, and her mother and sister were appointed as her guardians, according to the New York Post.
Aherne was placed on a court-ordered treatment plan to ensure she continues taking Prolixin, an antipsychotic medication used to treat schizophrenia, the records show.
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Her Facebook account has been inactive since 2018. In one of her last posts, she wrote, “Going a little insane,” along with a still from a Michael Jackson video.
That same year, Aherne was arrested for posting on Facebook about killing Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and getting a gun to shoot someone at a local police station, according to the bail application.
Aherne was arraigned on Friday, when her attorney told the court he plans to request bail at a future hearing.
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When the judge said she would be held without bail until her next court appearance, Aherne interrupted and begged not to be sent to another mental health facility, the New York Post reported.
“I don’t want to go to another hospital,” Aherne said. “They didn’t help me at Manhattan Psychiatric Center.”
She is due back in court on Dec. 17.
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