SAN LEANDRO (BCN) — A 12-year-old boy who was stabbed by an erratic woman trying to rob bank customers in San Leandro on Monday is recovering from surgery and “doing well,” a police lieutenant said on Tuesday.
The boy was sitting in a lobby chair at the Wells Fargo bank at 1298 E. 14th St. at about 11:30 a.m. waiting for a relative to finish a bank transaction.
He was suddenly stabbed three times in the back, including a deep wound near his neck, by a woman identified as 32-year-old Oakland resident Iyona Hammond, according to police Lt. Robert McManus.
Hammond had allegedly come into the bank and quickly became agitated, demanding money from bank customers and robbing one customer making a deposit of several hundred dollars, McManus said.
The stabbed boy felt like he’d been punched in the back and ran toward his relative, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Bank employees and customers called 911. Security guards in the bank tried to keep Hammond there initially, but she got around them just as police officers arrived and found her fleeing from the front entrance with blood on her hands and a pair of scissors, police said.
She was arrested and booked into jail. The bank was closed while employees cleaned the blood from the floor, according to police.
Police Lt. Robert McManus said today that the boy, who was visiting the Bay Area from out of state, had surgery on Monday and is in stable condition.
“He and his family are doing well,” McManus said.
McManus would not comment on Hammond’s mental state Monday, but said she was medically cleared for incarceration and booked into Santa Rita Jail without bail. The attack was “completely unprovoked” and Hammond could face attempted murder charges, he said.
The Police Department will submit its case to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday morning ahead of a scheduled 2 p.m. court appearance in Hayward, McManus said.