Dr Noelia de Mingo Arrested After Stabbing Rampage
Footage has been released of the moment a doctor tried to stab Madrid police officers as they attempted to arrest her after she allegedly stabbed a cashier and the manager of a supermarket.
The suspect had previously been sentenced to 25 years in a psychiatric unit after she stabbed three people to death during a schizophrenic episode at her workplace, the Fundacion Jimenez Diaz hospital, in 2003 . However, she had since been allowed home under strict medical supervision.
Dr Noelia de Mingo, 48, was arrested by local police after they managed to wrest the knife out of her hand following reports that she had stabbed two people in a supermarket on Avenida de Espana in the capital, Madrid, yesterday (20th September).
According to the El Mundo newspaper, De Mingo walked into a Maxcoop supermarket and pulled a 20-centimetre (7.9-in) knife on the cashier.
The suspect allegedly plunged the knife into the chest of the cashier, identified only as Virginia, 46, before walking off in search of her next victim.
She eventually found the 53-year-old female manager of the store, who, after being stabbed in the back and the side, managed to escape and hid in a nearby pharmacy.
The cashiers at the pharmacy, which was full of customers at the time, told reporters: “When we looked out, we saw a woman with a knife in her hand and the owner of the supermarket ran across the road into our building.”
They said they treated the store manager’s injuries while they nervously waited for the police to arrest the suspect.
The victims called the police, who, as seen in the footage, struggled to arrest the doctor, who threatened to stab them as well.
The footage shows how one of the cops eventually manages to get hold of the knife and pulls it from the suspect’s grip.
She was arrested and later transferred to the psychiatric clinic at the Infanta Sofia Hospital.
The cashier, Victoria, is reportedly in a serious but stable condition, while the store manager did not suffer serious injuries.
Noelia de Mingo killed three people and injured five others during a schizophrenic episode in 2003 according to local media reports.
A court handed her a 25-year sentence in a psychiatric hospital after criminal charges against her were dropped on grounds that she was insane.
In 2011, six years into the sentence, she began to be allowed out of the hospital for months at a time, as she was reacting well to her medication and therapy and did not have any new episodes.
Finally, in October 2017, the Provincial Court agreed to let De Mingo leave the hospital permanently and placed her in the custody of her family, under strict clinical surveillance by her bedside psychiatrist.
An April 2017 report from the psychiatric prison hospital in Alicante stated that De Mingo had not suffered any violent episodes since her arrest in 2003, and she had even completed a master’s degree during her time in the hospital.
The families of De Mingo’s victims from the 2003 incident publicly opposed the release and said that they believed she would kill again.
It is not clear what led to De Mingo’s latest episode, but some local media sources speculated she may have stopped taking her medication.
The suspect is currently being held in a psychiatric unit.
The investigation is ongoing.
