NEW YORK — Five people, including three infants between the ages of 3 days and 1 month, were in critical condition Friday after they were stabbed at an unlicensed daycare center in New York City, according to police and reports.
Authorities said a 52-year-old woman, later identified as Yu Fen Wang, was found at the scene with a self-inflicted slash to her wrist. Police were called to the daycare center in Queens around 3:40 a.m., WPIXreported.
No motive for the attack has been determined, authorities said.
Update 10:09 a.m. EDT Sept. 22: Wang has been charged with five counts of attempted murder, WABC reported. She remains in police custody at a local hospital, where she is being treated for critical injuries.
Update 4:09 a.m. EDT Sept. 22: Police sources identified the woman as Yu Fen Wang, WPIX reported. She worked at the facility, according to the Queens District Attorney's Office.
Update 3:55 p.m. EDT Sept. 21: The person suspected in Friday's early morning stabbing at a New York City daycare was identified as an employee of the facility, The New York Times reported. Her name has not been released.
Monica Mahaffey, a spokeswoman for the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, told the Times that the facility where the stabbing occurred was not a state regulated child care program. Such programs are barred from caring for infants under the age of six weeks without additional requirements, according to the newspaper.
WABC named the center as Mei Xin Care Incorporated.
Neighbors told the Times that they often saw pregnant Chinese women at the facility, prompting suspicions that the center "was also operating as a birthing hotel for Chinese visitors who want to secure American citizenship for their children."
The newspaper noted that some officials suggested the center might actually be frequented by Chinese women who lacked strong family support in the U.S.
Update 10:35 a.m. EDT Sept. 21: Police said the five people injured early Friday included two adults, a man and a woman, and three infants between the ages of 3 days and 1 month.
NYPD Assistant Chief Juanita Holmes said the victims suffered stab wounds. The injured woman was found with multiple wounds to her torso while the man had a stab wound on his leg, she said.
Police did not release the name of the woman suspected of carrying out the attack, who was identified only as a 52-year-old woman.
Holmes said the victims were in critical but stable condition after the incident.
Original report: A 52-year-old woman with apparent self-inflicted knife wounds was taken into custody, WPIX reported.
The ages of the infants, two girls and a boy, were unknown, WNBC reported, but one girl was in serious condition, police said. Two other people, a man and a woman, also were stabbed. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening, the television station reported.
The injured man was stabbed in the leg and is the father to one of the children at the daycare center, although police did not say if his child was one of those stabbed, WNBC reported. The woman injured was a daycare worker, police said.