PRETTY DIAMOND - 8 Months / Accused: Mother; Kenisha Thomas - Baltimore MD

Mother in custody after infant stabbed in Baltimore

Published April 24, 2012

Associated Press

BALTIMORE – DEVELOPING: Baltimore police say a mother has stabbed her infant child in the neck at a social services building.

The 8-week-old baby is critically injured at a hospital and the mother is in custody.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the stabbing occurred just before 10 a.m. Tuesday at a Department of Social Services building.

The baby's gender was not immediately known.

Detectives and child abuse investigators are continuing to investigate.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/24/mother-in-custody-after-infant-stabbed-in-baltimore/?test=latestnews#ixzz1syczwJZu

Police: Mother stabs child at social services

Posted: 10:42 AM
Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

By: Brian Kuebler By: Brian Kuebler

BALTIMORE - Baltimore Police say the mother of an eight month old baby girl pulled out a kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbed her infant in neck and head.

It happened during a visit this morning at the Baltimore City Department of Social Services on the east side.

There is no way to avoid what is most likely the visceral reaction to those first two lines as there was no way for passersby to avoid the spectacle.

"When I walked by I heard the employees saying that an eight month old baby got stabbed by her mother. The police were coming with the sirens and they were running, the medics came and that is when all the employees came out ...they were crying and stuff," said Nelly Taylor.

The baby was transported to Johns Hopkins and is expected to survive.

Police kept the mother behind, they say she too suffered minor injuries but was immediately put into police custody where they attempted to gain some insight, if any as to why she would attempt to murder her own infant.

"At some point during the visitation or during the encounter she became irate, at this point she still remains irate so we have a lot to get through. Detectives hope to get at least why this happened, but at this point we have the suspect, we have the mother," said Detective Donny Moses.

Police say charges are pending, but the first order of business is what they call an emergency mental evaluation of the mother; searching for answers to the unthinkable.

"I think that's crazy. That's crazy, I don't know. Why would someone want to hurt a child?" asked Taylor.

Baltimore police say they are waiting on the results of the mental evaluation of the mother before they formally charge her.

Read more: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/crime_checker/baltimore_city_crime/police-mother-stabbed-infant#ixzz1szSdenOz

Mother stabs child at social services office
Police take mother into custody; 8-month-old child expected to survive

By Peter Hermann, The Baltimore Sun

1:50 p.m. EDT, April 24, 2012

A woman breached security and managed to get a large kitchen knife into a Baltimore social services office on Tuesday and stabbed her 8-month-old daughter in the neck and head while visiting with a social worker, according to city police.

The infant was reported in good condition at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and is expected to survive, police said. The mother cut herself on the hands and was treated at a hospital. Police said she was in their custody, but charges had not been filed by Tuesday afternoon.

State officials, who oversee the city's Department of Social Services, said they are reviewing security procedures and surveillance cameras to see how a person with a knife could get inside the squat, nondescript block-long building in the 3000 block of East Biddle St.

It is surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and visitors are required to show identification, submit bags for inspection or search and walk through a metal detector. Police said the woman, described as in her late 20s or early 30s, did not have identification with her.

Ian Patrick Hines, a spokesman with the Maryland Department of Human Resources, said an investigation is under way to determine if the suspect in this case went through the checks, and if so, how the knife was missed. The building also has its own security force.

"We are absolutely looking into all these questions and working very closely with police," Hines said. "We are reviewing our security procedures at all of our sites to make sure how this came to happen and make sure it doesn't happen again. This is a very unfortunate situation."

Many of the cases dealt with on East Biddle Street involve foster care, and Hines said workers understand they are dealing with people varied sensitive states, some angry because their children had been taken away. Police did not speculate Tuesday as to why the woman acted out.

But the spokesman described violence at this level as "extraordinarily uncommon." He added, "We know people are dealing with a very emotional set of issues."

Hines declined to comment on any aspect of the stabbing or the mother and child. He would not say if the mother brought the child with her to visit with a counselor or whether the child is in the custody of social services and the mother was on a monitored visit.

Baltimore Police Detective Donny Moses, a city police spokesman, said the stabbing occurred shortly after 10 a.m. He said the mother was in a room visiting with her daughter and a social worker when she "became irate."

Moses said the woman took a large kitchen knife out of a bag and stabbed the girl several times, including in the head and over her left eye. He said the social worker was not injured in the attack.

"We have a long way to go with this," the detective said.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-ci-child-stabbed-mother-20120424,0,1793682.story

New horrifying details: Mother says 'I hope my baby is dead,' stabs 8-month-old
Baby found with knife in her neCK

Posted: 11:33 AM
Last Updated: 4 hours and 16 minutes ago

BALTIMORE - In what should have been a safe place for children, an 8-month-old was repeatedly stabbed by her mother.



Kenisha Thomas, was in the Department of Social Services for a one-hour visit with her daughter, Pretty Diamond. Pretty Diamond had been in the custody of Social Services for an unknown reason.

While visiting with her daughter, a social worker says Thomas was complaining about her daughter's care, saying she could do a better job.

At the end of the visit, the social worker says Thomas put the baby on the table and said, "It's about to be over."

The worker says Thomas reached into her purse, pulled out a kitchen knife and stabbed Pretty Diamond.

The social worker screamed. Others came running into the room.

One man picked up a chair and started hitting Thomas. Thomas dropped the baby. The man then grabbed Thomas, trying to control her.

Another worker grabbed the baby and ran out of the room. The baby still had the knife hanging out of her neck.

Other witnesses say they heard Thomas say she wanted to “Kill the baby. I hope my baby is dead. Lock me up. If I can't have her, no one will.”

Thomas has been charged with attempted murder, child abuse, assault, reckless endangerment and weapons charges.

Read more: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/crime_checker/baltimore_city_crime/mother-who-stabbed-infant-charged#ixzz1t5cQuJiM

Posted: 05/21/2012

A woman who stands accused of stabbing her baby multiple times inside the Department of Social Services (DSS) building has been indicted by a grand jury.

Kenisha Thomas has been charged with eight different counts for the attack of her 8-month-old daughter, Pretty Diamond with a knife on April 24.

Thomas has been charged with attempted first and second degree murder, first and second degree child abuse, first and second degree assault, reckless endangerment and wearing, carrying and transporting a deadly weapon with the intent to injure.

Thomas' arraignment is scheduled for July 17, 2012.

According to charging documents, Thomas complained about her baby's care and when the supervised vist to Social Services was over, Thomas reportedly put the baby down on a table, fumbled in her purse and pulled out a kitchen knife and began stabbing the child.

Social Workers were able to push Thomas away from the baby, and detain her until police arrived. Pretty Diamond survived the attack and the multiple stabs wounds she received.

Governor Martin O'Malley later praised the Social Workers efforts to save the baby.


Read more: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/crime_checker/baltimore_city_crime/woman-indicted-for-stabbing-her-baby-in-dss-office#ixzz1vbuTcMoy