A man stabbed a woman to death at a public library in Massachusetts on Saturday. He stabbed her repeatedly from behind with a 10-inch hunting knife.
The tragedy took place at the Winchester Public Library, near Boston. According to the Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, the 22-year-old victim was in the reading room studying or doing some work at a table, when the 23-year-old man approached her and attacked her. The man was identified as Jeffrey Yao.
Several people tried to help the woman
The fatal event took place around 10:30 a.m. when the man entered the library’s reading room.
The woman suffered several stab wounds to her head and upper torso. People tried to help her as she struggled to escape. The authorities also said that a 77-year-old man, who offered aid to her, was also stabbed in the arm. His condition is not bad, he is expected to survive. However, the woman died in the hospital.
Yao is being charged with murder and armed assault with intent of murder. He is being held at the police without bail. He will be in courts on Monday.
The identity of the women hasn’t been revealed. The authorities are waiting for the family to allow it. The name of the injured senior man hasn’t been released either.
Yao was ‘known to police’
Ryan said that the authorities are trying to determine whether Yao and the woman knew each other. They still don’t know which were his motives. However, Ryan did say that Yao was “known to police”.
Yao is a resident of a Massachusetts town located about 9 miles northwest of Boston.
“Neighbors of suspect Jeffrey Yao say they saw warning signs of bad behavior in the past & reported him to police for vandalism. Now he’s charged with murder for stabbing a woman to death inside a public library today,” informed the user @Litsapappas on Twitter
His neighbors said his behavior was growing erratic in the last years. Some even feared that he might kill somebody, as he recently did. Leslie Luongo, one of his neighbors, said that she used to run into her car every single day when she left for work because she was afraid of the man. She said she wouldn’t let her kids out if Yao was around, and that people had a bat by their beds because they were afraid.
Russ Ganz was walking by at 11 a.m. when he saw that the woman was being taken out the library. According to Ganz, the woman was conscious, and her injuries were quite visible.
“I thought somebody fell down the stairs,” he commented. “There were three to four police cars here, there was an ambulance and there was a woman taken out,” added the Winchester resident.
Source: The Washington Post