Police said one woman died and another survived after a Saturday night stabbing inside the Ebbets Field apartments in Crown Heights.
CROWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. — A 43-year-old woman has been charged after police said she used scissors during a late-night attack inside a Brooklyn apartment, killing a 74-year-old woman and seriously wounding another woman in her 70s.
The attack happened late Sat., March 21, inside the Ebbets Field apartment complex on Bedford Avenue, a large residential site where neighbors said several people shared the unit. Police later identified the woman who died as Hadiatou Bah, 74. Investigators said Oumou Bah, 43, now faces murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon charges. The surviving victim, 72, was reported in stable condition after being taken to Kings County Hospital.
Police were called to 1700 Bedford Ave. at about 10:30 p.m. after reports of violence inside the building. When officers arrived, authorities said, they found Hadiatou Bah with stab wounds to her head and arms. A second woman had wounds to her back and arm. Both were taken by ambulance to NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County. Hadiatou Bah later died there. The other woman survived. By Monday, investigators had charged Oumou Bah in the case. Officials have not said what set off the attack, and they have not publicly described any prior dispute inside the apartment.
Neighbors said the moments before police entered were loud and chaotic. Diana Harris, who lives nearby, said she heard raised voices as people came off the elevator. She said two women and a man appeared to be arguing in the hallway before the women went into the apartment and shut the man outside. Harris said the man then pounded on the door and shouted to be let back in before leaving. Another neighbor, Anissa Christian, said the walls shook from the banging. She said officers later called for someone inside to open the door, but when that did not happen, police forced their way in. Christian said she then heard officers say the older woman was going into cardiac arrest and needed CPR.
The account from neighbors gives investigators a rough sequence of events, but major questions remain unanswered. Police have not said whether the man seen in the hallway was a resident, a visitor or a witness. Authorities also have not explained how long the confrontation lasted from the argument outside the apartment to the moment officers entered. News reports described Oumou Bah as a roommate of the victims, and officials said she and Hadiatou Bah were not related despite sharing a last name. Neighbors said several people appeared to live in the apartment, a detail that may help explain why the hallway argument drew quick attention from others on the floor.
The case moved quickly from an initial detention to formal charges. On the night of the attack, police said a person of interest was taken into custody at the scene. By Mon., March 23, Oumou Bah had been charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Authorities said the weapon was scissors. Court records and prosecutors had not publicly laid out a fuller motive by the time charges were announced, and police had not said whether any additional people could face charges. The investigation remained active as detectives continued to examine what happened inside the apartment and whether witness accounts, physical evidence and any building security footage can fill in the missing minutes before officers arrived.
The killing shook neighbors in a building where many residents said they knew the women by sight. Harris said the violence felt out of place in a community where people usually pass one another without trouble. “Neighbors don’t kill each other here,” she said. Another resident said the attack was especially hard to process because the victims were older women. Residents who gathered outside after the stabbing watched officers seal off the area and move in and out of the building as word spread floor to floor. For many in the complex, the most haunting details were not only the bloodshed, but the sound of officers trying to reach someone inside before breaking through the door.
As of Tuesday, March 24, one woman was dead, one remained alive after hospital treatment and a roommate had been charged. The next major step is the court process, as investigators and prosecutors continue to sort out what led to the deadly attack.
Author note: Last updated March 24, 2026.