An ordinary afternoon at a Brooklyn nail salon ended in violence and an arrest. According to News 12, two employees of the Sunny Nail salon in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn were slashed in an attack, and a Manhattan woman is now facing a string of charges. The case has unnerved a neighborhood where the salon and its staff are well known.
Police say the bloodshed grew out of a mundane disagreement. According to police sources, the argument began after a customer's card was declined, a routine payment problem that escalated into a physical attack inside the salon. What might have been a brief dispute instead turned into a scene investigators are now treating as a serious assault.
The two workers who were hurt suffered distinct injuries in the attack. A 50-year-old employee was slashed in her shoulder, while a 53-year-old employee suffered slash wounds to her face, arm and chest. The wounds left both women needing hospital treatment after the confrontation.
Authorities have identified the person they say was responsible and laid out the case against her. Police say 23-year-old Layla Melendez of Manhattan has been arrested in connection with the attack. She has been charged with three counts of assault and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon, a set of charges that reflects the severity with which prosecutors are treating the case.
The injured employees were rushed for medical care as the investigation began. Both were taken to Kings County Hospital, where police say they are expected to recover from their wounds. Police have not said what kind of weapon was used in the slashing, leaving one of the key details of the attack still unconfirmed.
In the surrounding neighborhood, the attack has been met with disbelief. Neighbors said they were shocked to hear what had happened and offered high praise for the salon's employees, describing them as kind, polite and accommodating to their customers. For many regulars, the violence felt jarringly at odds with a place they had only ever known as welcoming.