A mother is recovering after being stabbed by a transient who approached her young children at an Azusa park on Tuesday, police said.
Officers were called to the 500 block of North Azusa Avenue just before 8 p.m. about an assault with a deadly weapon, the Azusa Police Department said in a Facebook post. Responding officers found the mother suffering from a stab wound to her upper torso area.
The mother told police she was with her two minor children at Edwards Park, located at 600 N. Azusa Ave., when a woman approached her children and looked at them as they played.
“The victim became nervous and immediately left the park with her children and began to walk southbound on Azusa Ave.,” police said in the post. “The female caught up to the victim and her children and demanded that the victim ‘give me my daughter back.'”
Police said the woman went on to threaten the mother and then stabbed her. Bystanders in the area helped the victim and her children and called 911.
The assailant, who was identified by police as Brianna Hallquist, fled on foot but was quickly found and detained by police around the corner from where the stabbing occurred.
Hallquist, a 23-year-old transient from Phoenix, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threats, according to the Police Department.
The mother was treated at the scene and taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The children were unharmed and released at the scene to their father, police said.
Anyone with additional information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the Azusa Police Department at 626-812-3200.