3 Year Old Attached By Machete-Wielding Mother

Police responded to a call Sunday, August 11th about 8:20 pm to reports of someone screaming in the 5900 block of Mascher Street in Philadelphia's Olney section.

When they arrived on the scene, they found a small child being consoled by neighbors and covered in blood from the head down.  One of the neighbors, a nurse, was attempting to stabilize the child's wounds until emergency responders arrived.  According to one neighbor, the girl who despite blood loss remained conscious the whole time, said her mother had been trying to give her a hair cut.  When the police saw her condition, they chose not to wait for an ambulance to arrive and instead, transported her to  Einstein Medical Center in stable, but critical condition.

According to reports, the girl suffered from several skull fractures, deep lacerations to the point that you could see her skull, and lacerations and bruising throughout her body.  The young girl has been transferred to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children where she is said to be in stable condition.

“She sustained some serious trauma sadly at the hands of her mother, the very individual that’s supposed to be here to protect her,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross later said.

At the scene, neighbors report that the mother, Lauren Rodriguez, 34, was seen nude, at the top of the stairs.  "She came out with her hands all cut up, asking if she could get a pair of shoes," a neighbor said. "She was very incoherent. She didn't know what was going on."

Rodriguez was arrested and has been charged with attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, simple assault and other related offenses.  She has no previous record, and police have not yet established a motive for the attack.

The previous week police had been at the same address confiscating some weapons, including machetes in response to the girl's father Renaldo Bermudez attacking someone with a machete on August 4th.  He was charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats.  Police say that the case with Bermudez is unrelated, but neighbors say otherwise.

It is unclear when Rodriguz is due to appear in court.