Woman stabbed while changing baby at NY department store

A tourist changing her baby inside a bathroom at Macy’s Herald Square in New York City was stabbed multiple times in an unprovoked attack during the holiday shopping rush, police say.

The 39-year-old victim was stabbed twice in the back and suffered a cut to her arm while on the store’s seventh floor, before she and her husband managed to disarm and detain the suspect until officers arrived.

The victim, an employee of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department visiting from California, was taken to hospital in stable condition and is expected to recover.

A homeless woman with no New York address has been charged with attempted murder and other offences, with prosecutors alleging she bought the knife inside the store and told police she acted under instructions from voices in her head after being discharged from a psychiatric facility earlier that day.