Police in Ohio have released a chilling surveillance video showing a suspect wandering around a shopping center with a knife in the moments leading up to the fatal stabbing of a 3-year-old boy outside a Giant Eagle supermarket in North Olmsted.
Bionca Ellis, 32, is facing an aggravated murder charge after allegedly slashing Julian Wood in the face and back and his 38-year-old mother Margot Wood in the shoulder on Monday afternoon, according to North Olmsted Detective Sgt. Matt Beck. The boy later died at a hospital while Ellis, media reports say, had her bond set at $1 million during an initial court appearance on Tuesday.
"To kind of start, Mrs. Ellis was inside the Volunteers of America [thrift] store where she obtained a butcher knife – or some type of kitchen knife. Unknown at this point if she paid for that knife or if she stole it," Beck said during a press conference as authorities released Ring camera footage of her walking around with a pointed object in her right hand.
"But then she was then seen exiting Volunteers of America, walked over to Giant Eagle, where she was on their cameras, spotted Mrs. Wood and her son and then proceeded to follow them out to the parking lot. Somewhere near their vehicle, Mrs. Ellis then attacked the two of them," Beck continued.
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"There is no indication why she committed this. There is some mental health concerns that we have, but nothing concrete at this point," he added, noting that Ellis refused to cooperate with police on Tuesday during an initial interview.
The North Olmsted Police Department also has released 911 calls and footage showing the moment that Ellis was taken into custody on Monday.
"There's a kid -- he's bleeding all over the place -- we are at Giant Eagle. He's outside. We are in a parking lot right now," one female caller was heard telling dispatchers, identifying herself as a store employee who was on break inside her car in the parking lot.
"Someone just stabbed a kid and a lady in the parking lot... I'm watching [her] walk away right now, [she] has got a knife in [her] hand," said another.
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Beck told reporters that there was no altercation between Ellis and the mother and child inside the Giant Eagle store before the stabbing, saying that "video shows that they just passed each other, Mrs. Ellis turned around, looked at her and followed her out the door."
Family members and friends have now set up a GoFundMe page to support the Wood family, writing that "while Margot was opening the trunk of her car to put groceries away the woman viciously attacked and stabbed both Margot and Julian."
"This will be an incredibly long journey to recovery, but truthfully we will never recover -- but we will continue to share stories about our beautiful baby boy, his laugh, his cheesy smile, his rambunctious attitude, his love of dinosaurs, his love of school, his obsession with his new baby sister and wrestling his big brother every chance he gets... and all the other beautiful things about that sweet little boy," the page says.
"This is something no person, no family, no mother, no father, no grandmother should ever experience," it adds. "We urge you all to hold your babies close. This should have never happened."
The page also calls for prayers that "our family receives some sort of justice."
