A female college athlete in Texas has been accused of stabbing a mother in the arm with a screwdriver while attempting to snatch the woman’s young son while he played outside.
Myrajah Deshjonae Rankin, 19, of Round Rock, Texas, was booked into the Bexar County Jail Thursday on charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
She is reportedly a freshman student and sprinter on the track and field team at the University of the Incarnate Word, a Catholic university in San Antonio. Rankin is accused of approaching a 3-year-old boy around 2 p.m. outside the Villa Rodriguez apartment complex in the 3200 block of Nacogdoches Road on the northeast side of San Antonio.
Noticing the unknown woman coming up to her son, the boy’s 28-year-old mother told Rankin to get away from him.
Court documents obtained by the San Antonio-Express News say the mother and Rankin grabbed onto the boy at around the same time.
With a screwdriver in hand, Rankin allegedly began shouting and allegedly stabbed the 28-year-old woman twice in the forearm, ripping the boy from her grasp. Rankin took off running while carrying the boy but was slowed by a metal fence, KHOU reported. She was said to be trying to squeeze the child through a gap, but witnesses soon caught up to her.
A man, reportedly a nearby worker, was among those who noticed the commotion and wrestled the child away from Rankin, the San Antonio Police Department said. KENS reported that police officials said the 28-year-old mom told officers she did not know Rankin.
"I heard screaming, really loud screaming like terror," one neighbor told the outlet.
"She wanted to do an exorcism or something," another neighbor, Omar Ortega, reportedly said. "She wasn't well in the head."
Ortega said Rankin ran into his apartment once the boy was freed. Though he was not home at the time, Ortega's indoor security cameras captured the moments Rankin slipped in through a sliding door. His wife, daughter and mother-in-law began screaming for Rankin to leave and called 911.
Ortega said Rankin stole crosses from their kitchen and a pair of scissors before hiding in a closet. Video shows officers with their guns drawn enter the apartment and apprehend Rankin.
"The University of the Incarnate Word is aware of an off-campus incident involving student-athlete Myrajah Rankin," the college said in a statement to local outlets. "As this is an ongoing San Antonio Police Department Investigation, the University will have no further comment at this time."
