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Toddler Stabbed in Face at Providence Bus Stop; Suspect Previously Ruled Incompetent in 2003 Child Attacks
ReToddler Stabbed in Face at Providence Bus Stop; Suspect Previously Ruled Incompetent in 2003 Child Attacks
A 2-year-old girl is in critical condition after a stranger stabbed her in the face at a Providence bus stop. The suspect, Nelson Blanco, was found incompetent to stand trial in a 2003 knife attack on two children and in a recent domestic violence case.
A 2-year-old girl is fighting for her life after a stranger stabbed her in the face as she sat in her stroller at a Providence school bus stop, an attack that has drawn renewed attention to the suspect's history of violence and repeated findings that he was incompetent to stand trial.
Nelson Blanco, 46, is accused of stabbing the toddler and her mother Wednesday afternoon near Broad and Public streets, according to Providence police. The child was taken to Hasbro Children's Hospital in critical condition. Her mother, who suffered a stab wound to the shoulder, was treated and released.
Police Chief Oscar Perez said the mother was waiting with her daughter for her other children to get off a school bus when Blanco approached and made insulting comments. She crossed the street with the stroller to get away, but Blanco approached again and attacked the child with a knife. Police said there is no evidence he knew either victim.
Surveillance video showed the mother and daughter trying to move away before Blanco grabbed the stroller and struck the child repeatedly, according to Boston 25 News. A bystander tried to intervene, but Blanco allegedly attempted to stab that person before fleeing. Officers later found Blanco hiding in the basement of a nearby home and recovered a knife from a panel box. Authorities said he admitted to the stabbings during questioning.
Blanco allegedly told detectives he stopped the attack because he was on a main street. «If I was on a side street, I would have killed them. Both of them,» he said, according to a police report obtained by WPRI.
He faces six charges, including two counts identified by police as assault with intent to commit murder, felony assault, breaking and entering into an occupied dwelling of a person 60 or older, and two weapons charges. No plea was entered during his Thursday appearance in Rhode Island's 6th Division District Court. The court referred him to the public defender and requested an evaluation. He is being held without bail pending a competency hearing later this month.
The arrest brought back painful memories for Andy Lopez and Dave Belony, who told WPRI they were 6 and 7 years old when Blanco attacked them while they played in Lopez's backyard on Sept. 27, 2003. Belony said he recognized Blanco immediately when he saw his booking photo on social media Wednesday night. «I knew it was him, because I will always remember that face,» he said. «My heart dropped, and it truly felt like my world had stopped.»
Court records show Blanco faced two felony assault charges and a charge of possessing a knife or firearm during a crime stemming from the 2003 incident. The docket documents repeated findings that Blanco was incompetent to stand trial from September 2004 through March 2006. Multiple entries state, «Defendant Remains Incompetent.» The case remains listed as «under review» in the court portal.
More recently, Blanco was found incompetent to stand trial in July in a separate domestic violence case, WPRI reported. A judge accepted a doctor's recommendation allowing him to remain in outpatient treatment because he was considered unlikely to endanger the community or himself at that time.
Lopez and Belony said the earlier attack left them with injuries and trauma that have followed them into adulthood. They told WPRI they were playing with Lopez's brother when Blanco emerged from a shed behind the house where he had been living. «He didn't say a word,» Belony recalled. «His face was blank and he was just staring at us.»
Belony said Blanco charged at him, trapping him near a tree. He curled into a ball and covered his head as Blanco stabbed him. Blanco then turned toward Lopez, the men said. «My brother yelled at me to run, and I was trying to run but my body just froze,» Lopez told WPRI. «He stabbed me twice in the eye — the first time it was blurry, and then the second time I couldn't see anything.»
Both children were rushed to Hasbro Children's Hospital. Their recovery took three months and included at least three surgeries each. Lopez was left permanently blind in his left eye, an injury he said derailed his dreams of becoming a police officer or truck driver. «Most of the opportunities I wanted to have in life are gone,» he said. «I'm very grateful I'm alive, but my life is restricted.» Belony said he was stabbed at least five times in his stomach, back and ribs and continues to struggle emotionally.
The men said learning about the latest attack left them devastated for the mother and toddler. The case has renewed scrutiny of how the criminal justice system handles defendants repeatedly found incompetent to stand trial, particularly when those findings result in outpatient treatment rather than secure confinement.
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