Unhoused Woman Stabbed Woman Inside Restaurant Over Money Dispute: Report By Moná Thomas

Two women in Florida brought their street-side altercation inside a restaurant, where the confrontation escalated into a stabbing, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (MDSO).

According to the arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE, the two women were panhandling outside of Fritanga Pinolandia on Wednesday, Nov. 26, and the situation turned violent when one woman allegedly rejected a request for money. The altercation moved indoors, where one of the women, identified as Damaris Rodriguez, 22, allegedly repeatedly hit and stabbed the other in her shoulder and back.

Rodriguez was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The arrest came 13 days after she was released on her own recognizance following an October cocaine-possession arrest two blocks away from the restaurant.

According to the arrest affidavit, which listed Rodriguez’s residence as “homeless,” Deputy Charles Castillo saw Rodriguez running away from the situation before apprehending her nearby. Castillo and Sgt. Anthony Rodriguez alleged that she made a spontaneous statement claiming, “It was self-defense, she was abusing me.”

Detectives later spoke with the victim at Jackson Ryder Trauma Center, where she was treated for a laceration to the right shoulder blade and received a stitch. In a sworn, recorded statement, the victim said she saw Rodriguez outside the restaurant “begging people for money” and believed she was trying to buy illicit substances.

She then told detectives that Rodriguez became agitated when no one gave her money, began cursing to herself, and then followed the victim into the business before stabbing her.

The viral video shows the victim, a Black woman, and the woman alleged to be Rodriguez, a white woman, inside the restaurant in a stand-off. The suspect is then seen aggressively approaching the victim with a cutting instrument in her right hand and using “multiple downward stabs” to the victim’s head. She is also heard yelling “puss a– hoe” repeatedly and stating, “I’m going to kill you,” according to the affidavit.

In her own sworn, Mirandized statement, Rodriguez allegedly told detectives she produced the scissors from a brown pillow and “took multiple stabs” at the victim’s head before fleeing north, then east, dropping her pillowcase and bag as police arrived.

Detectives later recovered her belongings and found the scissors inside a blood-covered brown leather bag. Rodriguez was transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center for booking.

Restaurant manager Bernardo Ruiz earlier told CBS News Miami that this is not an isolated incident and insisted that there is a major issue with the homeless in the area.

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“This is something that happens in Miami-Dade,” said Ruiz. “We have a huge problem with the homeless, and the police [don’t] do anything about it. We need help. Our business is getting worse with the situation we have in Florida.”

PEOPLE has reached out to Fritanga Pinolandia, which is currently closed, for comment.