Source: Booking photo/ John Greim via Getty
An Indiana woman is in custody after allegedly stabbing her 1-year-old niece in the neck by accident over a Burger King chicken sandwich. Sharon C. Key, 32, attempted to stab her dog, whom she thought stole her fast food meal, according to Law & Crime.
The incident happened Sept. 19 at a Days Inn hotel in Indianapolis, within the 8300 block of Craig Street, near Castleton Square Mall. Key told authorities that she stabbed the child while chasing after her dog, a pit bull, whom she assumed had eaten a chicken sandwich she’d gotten from Burger King earlier that evening.
The baby girl’s mother, Key’s sister, reportedly told investigators that the assailant asked to stay with her in the Double King Days Inn hotel room earlier that day.
After a late night trip to the fast food establishment with Key, the two sisters and mother said she laid her daughter for bed and took her son to the bathroom for a bath.
The mother of two claimed she heard “loud noises” coming from the bedroom,” which prompted her to leave the bathroom. That’s when she says she horrifically saw Key “holding a knife in her hand, and [her daughter] bloody and screaming on the bed.”
Local police arrived before 11 p.m. Medics immediately cared for the stabbed 1-year-old before she was taken to Riley Hospital for Children in critical condition. The child was thankfully in “stable but serious condition” as of Fox 59’s Sept. 19 reporting.
The 1-year-old’s mother allegedly also informed investigators that her sister had consumed alcohol “most of the day” before the disturbing incident.
It’s unclear if the stabber was inebriated at the time of the child’s injury. Details noted that Key reportedly stated, “It was an accident,” as soon as the baby girl’s mother entered the room, rushed to treat the wound, and called 911.
Key was hiding in an outdoor bush on the Days Inn property when police arrived. They arrested her on the spot.
The assailant has been charged with one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury and two counts of criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears condemned Key’s allegedly reckless behavior in a statement shared Sept. 22 by USA Today. The county lawyer declared that “the defendant’s alleged conduct placed an innocent child in grave danger. These types of actions will not be tolerated.”
“My granddaughter will be scarred for the rest of her life,” Tracy Griffin, the 1-year-old’s grandfather, told Fox 59. “She [Key] should have known that baby was sitting right there. I want the book thrown at her.”
Key has reportedly been jailed over 20 times in the last ten years. Further details on her are yet to emerge. Her trial will begin Nov. 20.
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