A 22-year-old Denver Public Library patron was listed in good condition at an area hospital after being stabbed while browsing in the central library’s children’s section January 15. Bea Ibberson was approached from behind by a man who put a hand over her mouth and held a knife to her throat. When she resisted, the man stabbed her in the face, neck, chest, and arms. The wounds were described as being superficial.
The suspect, later identified by witnesses who chased him from the library as Tommy Lee Young, 51, was arrested two hours later at a homeless shelter. Police said that Ibberson and Young apparently did not know each other. Released from prison December 18 after serving six months for unlawful sexual contact, Young previously served 14 years for a 1987 kidnapping conviction.
The library closed after the afternoon attack, but reopened the next day with a full-time security guard posted in the children’s area and another in an adjacent room. DPL Director Rick Ashton told the January 17 Denver Post that the library would do “everything that it can within its resources to maintain a safe and secure and positive environment.”
Posted January 21, 2002.