middletown stabbing1.jpg

According to a report, a female was stabbed at the Bed Bath & Beyond in Middletown on Thursday.

(Photo by Reader Submitted Photo)

Police are seen in front of Bed Bath & Beyond store in Middletown.

MIDDLETOWN – The man accused of torching a cat on Christmas Eve was charged Thursday with repeatedly stabbing a Keansburg woman at a Bed Bath & Beyond Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

Middletown resident Tyrik Haynes, 19, stabbed a 29-year-old woman he did not know 12 times, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Charles Webster and a complaint. She was taken by helicopter to an area hospital where she is listed in critical but stable condition.

The stabbing happened around 4 p.m., and Haynes was not arrested at the scene, Webster said. He did not know if the stabbing happened inside or outside the store, and where Haynes was arrested.

He was charged with one count of first-degree attempted murder and weapons offenses, and was being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution on $1 million bail with no 10 percent option.

Last month Haynes put one of two cats he purchased on the Internet in a crate, brought it to the woods behind his house and used aerosol and matches to set the animal on fire, Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Chief Victor Amato said last month. The burning cat escaped and ran into the woods.

After an extensive search, authorities couldn't locate the cat, and the SPCA confiscated the unharmed cat.

BEGIN RELATED LINKS

CONNECT WITH US

• Follow us on Twitter



• Like us on Facebook



• NJ.com/monmouth



He was charged with inflicting unnecessary cruelty on a living creature.

SPCA officials could not be reached Thursday night and the status of that case was not immediately clear.

Authorities could not release additional information on the Middletown incident Thursday night.