A Maryland woman was stabbed with a syringe filled with semen, police said on Friday.

Thomas Bryon Stemen, 51, was arrested on Tuesday after a woman reported that she was assaulted while grocery shopping on February 18, Anne Arundel Police said in a statement.

Surveillance video shows Stemen pretending to bump into the woman as she was returning a trolley, jabbing her with an object he pulled from his pocket.

media_camera The alleged stabbing. Picture: Supplied/Anne Arundel County Police Department

media_camera The woman jumps backwards. Picture: Supplied/Anne Arundel County Police Department

The victim — identified by WBAL-TV as Katie Peters — initially thought she was burned by a cigarette butt, the station reported.

“It felt like a bee sting didn’t it?” Mr Stemen allegedly told Ms Peters after the attack.

Police said they received an anonymous tip on Tuesday which named the 51-year-old man as the attacker.

media_camera Thomas Bryon Stemen. Picture: Anne Arundel County Police Department

Investigators then found the syringe in the driver’s side door of his car, WBAL-TV reported.

Mr Stemen was arrested and charged with first degree assault, second degree assault and reckless endangerment. A judge ordered he be held without bail.

Ms Peters told the station on Wednesday that she felt safer with Stemen behind bars.

Police said additional testing and investigations are underway — believing that there may be additional victims.

On February 28, 2020 the Anne Arundel County Police Department learned that the substance in the syringe from the 2/18 assault was semen. Additional testing and investigation are under way. 1/2 — Anne Arundel Police (@AACOPD) February 28, 2020

It was unclear on Friday whether Ms Peters and Mr Stemen knew each other.

“This investigation is extremely active additional charges may be applicable,” police said on Twitter.

Jail records show that Stemen is housed in the Jennifer Road Detention Centre.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and is republished here with permission.

Originally published as Woman ‘stabbed’ with syringe of semen