A woman was arrested and charged for smashing several windows at a Pasadena home, using a pickaxe. A quick-thinking grandmother moved a baby whose bassinet was under the window inside. Alex Rozier reports on the NBC4 News at 5pm on Wednesday, October 26, 2022.
A woman is in custody after using a pickaxe to smash her neighbor's windows, in an attack that left the grandmother inside that home terrified while protecting a six-week-old baby.
The Monday evening incident was caught on home security camera footage, which shows the woman repeatedly swinging into the windows of the Pasadena home.
Now, the family has left their home on Asbury Place vacant, after it sustained about $20,000 in damage -- and they're not sure when they're coming back.
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"All these windows, those are shattered, those are shattered," said Dr. Arman Tchoukadarian, father to that baby. His daughter was sleeping in her bassinet when the attack took place -- right under one of those windows.
"She was literally right here," Arman said. "If my mother-in-law was ten seconds late, that baby would not be here."
His mother-in-law and his infant daughter were the only ones home when the attack took place, and she was able to grab the baby just before the window above her bassinet was shattered.
The family moved in just six weeks ago, the same night their daughter was born. Now, that dream home doesn't feel safe.
"This was a targeted attack against my family," Arman said. Pasadena Police are investigating whether that is the case.
The suspected attacker, Beverly Baker, a 65-year-old woman who lives in the neighborhood, can be seen in the recording smashing a window on the far side of the front porch from the home security camera.
Inside, the grandmother can be heard screaming, then calling for her son-in-law.
Baker then returns, slowly walking across the front porch, smashing each window on the front of the house.
When Baker returned, the grandmother grabbed the baby and hid in a closet.
After smashing the windows on the front of the house, Baker can be heard on the recording yelling "Questions? Questions anyone? I'll be back! Get out!"
Baker did return, smashing three more windows on the side of the house opposite the camera before leaving.
Photos taken after the attack show the bassinet where the baby girl slept full of glass shards.
"My wife had to convince [the grandmother] for ten minutes that it's us, she can come out of the closet," said Albert Tchoukadarian, Arman's father. "This is how terrifying [it was]."
Arman is grateful his mother-in-law saved his daughter's life.
"She's our savior," Arman said, crying.
He was born and raised in Pasadena, even naming his chiropractic business after the city he loves.
He's grateful to those in the neighborhood who immediately responded, but now he's unsure of his family's future there.
"I met neighbors I hadn’t met, they were so nice, two of them called 911 before anyone arrived," Arman said.
The 65-year-old woman with the pickaxe was arrested in her home just a few streets over, and is being held on charges of vandalism. Baker's ex-husband told NBC4 that he believes she suffered a mental health crisis -- something Pasadena Police believe as well.
"I don’t know if we have to leave but as of now, this is not our safe space," Arman said. "This is a constant reminder of what has happened."
Baker is due in court Tuesday morning, and her ex-husband said he would post bail. The Tchoukadarians say they're not taking any chances, and as soon as she steps out of court, they will serve her a restraining order.
