A 2-year-old girl is “fighting for her life” after she and her mother were stabbed in broad daylight by a man who was free despite a prior domestic violence arrest and another case involving the alleged stabbing of two children, police said.
Nelson Blanco, 46, was arrested in Providence, Rhode Island, after allegedly attacking the toddler and her mother on a city street Wednesday.
The mother and child were taken to a hospital with stab wounds to their bodies and faces. The mother has since been released, but her daughter remains in critical condition, the Providence Police Department told The Post on Friday.
The incident was not the first time Blanco had been accused of stabbing children. In 2003, he was charged with stabbing two 7-year-old boys as they played in a parking lot. He was ultimately found incompetent to stand trial in that case, the Providence Journal reported.
Blanco, who “appears to be homeless,” did not know the victims, Police Chief Oscar Perez told reporters. He allegedly approached the mother as she waited for her other children to leave school, with her 2-year-old daughter in a stroller.
Police said Blanco hurled insults at the woman. When she tried to cross the street to escape, he allegedly grabbed her and attacked both her and the child.
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Bystanders intervened, prompting Blanco to flee, according to Perez. He later allegedly broke into an elderly woman’s home and hid in the basement.
Blanco faces two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a deadly weapon and breaking and entering, among other charges.
Court records show that his nearly 30-year criminal record includes the previously alleged stabbings, as well as charges involving assault and battery, breaking and entering and possession of a stolen vehicle.
Perez confirmed that Blanco was arrested on a domestic violence charge in 2024 and released in 2025 into the custody of the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Blanco was also found incompetent to stand trial after being charged with possessing a stolen vehicle in 2018. According to court documents reviewed by The Boston Globe, the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals said he “has an Intellectual Disability Disorder and Schizophrenia.”
Asked why Blanco was back on the streets, Perez said, “I don’t think the system is broken.” The chief added that law enforcement’s responsibility is to “present the facts to the judicial system” and allow the courts to deliver justice.
