A North Carolina woman who was stabbed by a repeat homeless assailant at a New Jersey airport last weekend has spoken out about the horrific attack, recalling the moments leading up to it and those that followed.
“I was scrolling through my phone, waiting for my friend to come out of the bathroom,” Melissa Mauldin told “Fox & Friends First” on Thursday. “He came up behind me. I didn't hear him.” [of] I knew how noisy the airport was, but he came from behind with a knife around my face and stabbed me. The moment I felt the pressure, I thought he had hit me. So I turned around to see what was going on and there was a man with a knife staring right at me.”
“So I immediately ran through the airport screaming for help,” she continued.
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Melissa Mauldin, of North Carolina, was stabbed by a repeat assailant at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey over the weekend. (Screenshot from “Fox & Friends First”)
Jin Xiong, 54, was quickly arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport and charged with aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a weapon, according to ABC7 New York. He may also be charged with attempted murder, according to the Union County Prosecutor's Office.
At the time of the incident, Mauldin had been in New Jersey attending a friend's wedding and was on her way home.
The suspect allegedly attacked her just days after he was released from prison on an aggravated assault charge.
Mauldin has blamed the justice system for the attack, claiming the judges involved in his multiple criminal cases have “let down” her and the community by endangering public safety.
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“The police have let me down, and let others down, by charging this man with simple assault, putting him in jail for a while and then releasing him,” Mauldin said. “I believe that the man who has already stabbed me multiple times should be charged with attempted murder, not simple assault, and that he should not be allowed to roam the streets freely while we hurt others.”
“My main goal in making this story public is to stop him from hurting anyone else the way he hurt me,” she continued.
Xiong has been in and out of prison since 2009. He reportedly stabbed two people in 2007 and stabbed a New Jersey corrections officer in the neck with a sharpened pencil in 2009.
“I still don't understand it,” she said.
