Library patron assaulted in Denver children's room

摘要

A 22-year-old Denver Public Library patron was stabbed while browsing in the central library's children's section the afternoon of January 15. Bea Ibberson was approached from behind by a man who put a hand over her mouth and held a knife to her throat. When she resisted, the man stabbed her in the face, neck, chest, and arms. The wounds were described as being painful but superficial, and she was released from the hospital two days after the incident. Suspected assailant Tommy Lee Young, 50, later identified by security officers who chased him from the library, was arrested two hours later at a homeless shelter three blocks away. Police said that Ibberson and Young apparently did not know each other. Released from prison December 18 after serving six months for unlawful sexual contact, Young previously served 14 years for a 1987 kidnapping conviction, according to the January 17 Denver Post. "Our staff carried out their training in response to this incident," DPL Director Rick Ashton told American Libraries. "They called our security, notified 911, assisted the injured person, blocked off the area from public access, and quickly checked our surveillance camera tapes so they would be available for the police to help identify a suspect." The children's library was closed after the afternoon attack, but reopened the next day with a full-time security officer reassigned to it. "Denver's Office of Employee Assistance staff were on-site within 40 minutes to assist our employees," Ashton said. "One of the things they do very effectively is crisis counseling. There were probably seven or eight people on duty in the children's library that day--shelvers, clerks, librarians. The important thing has been to allow our staff time to talk to each other or freely seek advice from employee-assistance counselors." The library also sent some flowers to Ibberson in the hospital, expressing the staff's concern for her.