Police officials said the 32-year-old aunt, later identified as Sharon, was taken into custody and later charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury and criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon. Authorities said the woman reportedly stabbed her 1-year-old niece in the neck after she reportedly tried to stab her pooch for stealing her burger. First responders arrived on scene and located the 1-year-old victims. Authorities said the victim suffered a life-threatening stab wound to the neck and was rushed to the hospital. The child was initially admitted to the facility in critical condition, but was later upgraded to stable condition, police officials said.
The girl’s mom, who is Sharon’s sister, told officers that the 32-year-old suspect called her that morning and asked if she could stay with her at the hotel. Sharon was dropped off at the hotel later that morning and drank alcohol for most of the day, police said. Late at night, both sisters went to a fast food restaurant and arrived back at the hotel 30 minutes later. The victim’s also told investigators that she laid her daughter down on her stomach and went into the bathroom to give her son a bath.
Shortly after, the mother heard noises. When she walked out of the bathroom, she saw that Sharon was holding a knife in her hand and her daughter was bloody and screaming on the bed. Sharon immediately told her sister that ‘it was an accident’. The mother grabbed a towel and wrapped it around the wound on the back left side of her daughter’s head and applied pressure before calling 911. The girl’s mother then noticed that Sharon was walking down the hallway towards the exit. She then ran down the stairs to the front of the hotel looking for her and waited for the police to arrive.
The responding officers found the aunt hiding in bushes. When officers asked her why she stabbed her niece, the woman reportedly said that her pit bull had taken the chicken sandwich she got. She reportedly became angry and went after the dog with her knife. The dog then jumped on the bed where the victim was laying while trying to avoid Sharon. In an attempt to stab the dog, Sharon allegedly said that she missed, accidentally hitting her niece instead of the pooch.