A 21-year-old Texas man with a troubling history of alleged violence is back behind bars after police say he stabbed his own mother in the neck inside a Target store, leaving the 43-year-old woman hospitalized and requiring surgery.
The shocking attack unfolded Sunday, November 8, at approximately 2:23 p.m. at a Target on Bosque Boulevard in Waco, where shoppers were going about their afternoon when the violent incident occurred.
According to the Waco Police Department, Galveston Elijah Vriseno, 21, was walking down a store aisle with his mother when he allegedly pulled out a weapon and stabbed her in the neck.
Officers rushed to the store after receiving reports of an assault in progress, but the suspect had already fled.
Police discovered the injured woman and arranged for her to be transported to a nearby hospital, where she underwent surgery. Authorities later confirmed that she was in stable condition.
Meanwhile, officers launched a search for Vriseno, eventually locating him a short distance from the shopping center and taking him into custody.
But the arrest revealed an especially disturbing detail about the young man’s past.
Just 10 months earlier, Vriseno had been arrested for allegedly attacking his pregnant girlfriend during an argument at a McDonald’s restaurant in Waco.
According to a January 2026 arrest warrant obtained by local television station KWTX, police were dispatched to the fast-food restaurant on South Sixth Street after receiving reports of a man threatening to harm himself.
When officers arrived, they encountered Vriseno’s girlfriend, who reported that he had pulled her hair and physically assaulted her during an argument over a vehicle part.
The woman told investigators she was 11 weeks pregnant at the time.
According to the warrant, the confrontation began after the couple argued about a car part and the woman took away Vriseno’s car keys.
Officers later located Vriseno at a nearby bus station, where he allegedly admitted to assaulting his girlfriend despite knowing she was pregnant.
He was arrested and charged with assault of a pregnant woman, a third-degree felony under Texas law. The available reports do not establish how that earlier case was resolved.
Now, less than a year later, Vriseno faces another serious allegation of violence, this time involving his own mother.
Following Sunday’s stabbing, authorities charged him with aggravated assault and booked him into the McLennan County Jail, where he was reportedly being held on a $100,000 bond.
Investigators have not publicly disclosed what sparked the confrontation inside Target or whether the mother and son had been arguing before the alleged attack.
Police also have not identified the weapon used or released additional details about the woman’s injuries beyond confirming that she required surgery.
The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact the Waco Police Department at 254-750-7500.
