MIDDLETOWN, NY (PIX11) –  The man suspected of stabbing a 29-year-old woman repeatedly at a Bed Bath & Beyond in New Jersey Thursday is also the suspect in the torching of a cat on Christmas Eve, authorities said.

The suspect, Tyrik Haynes, 19, adopted a cat from the PetCo across the street from the store where the woman was attacked, according to the chief of Monmouth County’s SPCA.  The SPCA said he burned the cat alive while it was in its carrier, by using a lighter and an aerosol spray can. The cat got away, and was apparently never found again.

In Thursday’s case, police say a young woman was peacefully shopping with her baby when Haynes came from behind and stabbed her a dozen times.

The suspect did not hurt the child but he left the mother bleeding on the store floor and took off. The woman remains in critical but stable condition.

“Oh my God, woah!” exclaimed one Middletown resident who was leaving the parking lot of the store once she realized why the was closed early.

Michael Mascolo of Middletown shares the sentiment.

“I’m shocked to hear what happened here, this is unbelievable.”

A woman was stabbed repeatedly in the back as she shopped with her child at a Bed Bath and Beyond store in New Jersey

The woman, who Patch reported is in her 30s, was stabbed more than a dozen times by a man at the Middletown store, a1515 State Route 35. The woman’s condition was not immediately known.

Paramedics airlifted her to Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

The suspect is reportedly in custody, according to Patch.