A 15-year employee of Oliver's Candies attacked another employee with a knife yesterday afternoon and has been charged with attempted murder in the second degree.
The victim, a 59-year-old employee, suffered only minor injuries in the attack.
Owner Jeremy Liles said nothing seemed to precipitate yesterday's incident and there was no indication the woman would become violent.
State Police were called to the Oliver's location in Elba, where Oliver's runs the Sweet Life Country store on South Main Street and a production facility, for a report of a stabbing.
Liles was not present during the incident but based on talking with employees and reviewing security footage, it appears the woman took a shop knife and randomly attacked the victim.
Nobody else was hurt in the incident.
"My crew did a phenomenal job," Liles said. "They remained calm. They got everyone out of the building, going person to person telling people to get out. It was a stressful situation and everyone remained calm. It was actually the person who got stabbed who started telling everyone to get out. He was a true leader. He made sure everyone got out of the building.
After the stabbing, the suspect threw the knife in the garbage, Liles said.
Troopers arrived on scene swiftly and took the woman into custody without incident.
"The whole thing was over pretty quickly," Liles said.
Colleen L. Nelson, 49, of Alabama, was taken into custody and besides the attempted murder charge, was charged with attempted assault in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon, 4th.
State Police described the knife as "large."
Following arraignment, Nelson was ordered held by the Genesee County Jail.
