Ala. mom accused of cutting infant with butcher knife

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Police say a Huntsville, Ala. woman has been charged with attempted murder after she cut 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."