Emma Tucker
Daily Beast
An animal rights activist is facing attempted murder charges after police say she stabbed a woman wearing faux fur boots in a Cleveland Heights, Ohio, church. The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Meredith Lowell, followed the woman, a babysitter who was dropping off children for choir practice, into the church before stabbing her, police say. The victim later told police that she felt a “push on her left arm” by Lowell before noticing blood and realizing she had been stabbed.
Two witnesses in the church, a man and a woman, reportedly wrestled Lowell to the ground and pulled a yellow kitchen knife away from her by twisting her wrist, police said. The woman was rushed to the hospital with three stab wounds. Police Chief Annette Mecklenburg was quoted in local media reports saying Lowell is known to police for “for other incidents involving attacks on women wearing fur clothing.” The activist is said to have previously tried to hire a “hit man” to kill people wearing fur, and she was arrested in 2012 after attempting to hire a hit man who was actually an undercover FBI agent, The Plain Dealer reported.