AL mom charged with stabbing her baby with butcher knife

photo Natasha Deann Townsend and her daughter.

Police say a Huntsville woman has been charged with attempted murder after she stabbed her 3-month-old baby with a butcher knife.

Al.com reports the infant girl was taken to Children's Hospital of Birmingham in critical condition after the attack late Saturday.

Sgt. Mark Roberts, a Huntsville police spokesman, says the child's mother, 31-year-old Natasha Dean Townsend, was charged. He says police believe she intended to kill her baby and then commit suicide. It was not known if Townsend had an attorney.

A neighbor, Promise Shorter, described Townsend as an intelligent woman who held down a job that paid well and was in a committed relationship her daughter's father.

Shorter said, "She's a good person... I just think she snapped."

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