Iowa City Police: 17-Year-Old Accused of Using 8-inch Cooking Knife to Attack Woman. Woman and Teen Told Police They Knew Each Other By Reputation

The Iowa City Police Department released more details Tuesday .

The alleged assailant, Heather Kay Stanfield, 17, was an employee at Red Pepper Grill and reportedly told police that she did not know the woman she assaulted, but police now say the two women "knew of each other" prior to the incident.

According to an Iowa City Police complaint, on Monday, Feb. 18, at 11:46 a.m. the Iowa City Police Department responded to the restaurant located at 517 S. Riverside Drive for the report of an assault. Once there, they determined that a woman was suffering from several knife wounds, and she was transported for medical attention.

Witnesses told police that as the woman entered the restaurant, she ordered sandwiches and sat down at a booth. At this point, Stanfield decided to grab an eight-inch long kitchen knife from the restaurant kitchen and stab the woman multiple times with it, according to the complaint.

The woman resisted Stanfield's attack, police say, and she "sustained four stab wounds, the first on the left hand, the second on the left elbow, the third on the front side of her right shoulder and the fourth on the 
back side of her right shoulder."

Although transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for treatment, the wounds were not life threatening, according to police.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that Stanfield knew who the woman was before she entered the restaurant, although they had never met:

Police Sgt. Vicki Lalla said Stanfield and the woman had a history despite having never met in person.

“They didn't know each other, but they knew of each other,” Lalla said.

Police are not elaborating further on a motive.

A male witness stepped in to stop the attack. The woman who was attacked told police she feared the stabbing would not have been stopped without his intervention, according to the complaint.

The Gazette has an account of his intervention some witnesses at the scene:

A male witness used a chair to disarm Stanfield and restrain her before police could arrive, according to other restaurant employees.

Stanfield was charged with attempted murder, a Class B felony, punishable by up to 25 years in prison. She is not being held in the Johnson County Jail due to her status as a minor, instead being held in Muscatine. She will be charged as an adult due to commiting a forcible felony over the age of 16.