Police: Man Throws Meat Cleaver in Maternity Ward

(Updated at 2 p.m. on 12/23/21) An Arlington man has been arrested and charged with throwing a meat cleaver in the maternity ward of Virginia Hospital Center.

Police say the man, 34-year-old Kareem [Redacted], came to the hospital to deliver a message to a mother who had just given birth. The message: the baby’s father couldn’t make it because he was in jail.

[Redacted] was unable to perform his messenger duty, however, because the group of family members gathered in the mother’s hospital room wouldn’t let him in, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. A verbal altercation ensued. [Redacted] then allegedly pulled a meat cleaver from his waistband and started chopping at the door.

Eventually, Sternbeck said, [Redacted] was able to crack the door open and throw the meat cleaver into the room, in the direction of the room’s occupants. Nobody was struck by the knife, but [Redacted] was later detained by security, arrested by police, and charged with 5 counts of attempted malicious wounding.

There were five people in the room at the time, Sternbeck said. No word on whether the baby was in the room. From the daily crime report:

MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 04/05/13, 1700 block of N. George Mason Drive. At 5:34 pm on April 5, a suspect pulled a meat cleaver from his waistband after a verbal altercation escalated inside Virginia Hospital Center. The suspect struck a room door several times with the knife before throwing the weapon inside the room in the direction of the occupants. Hospital security detained the suspect until arrival of police. Kareem [Redacted], 34, of Arlington, VA, was arrested and charged with 5 counts of attempted malicious wounding and carrying a concealed weapon. He was held without bond.