Man Charged In Stabbing Of Pregnant Woman At ATM Drive-Thru In Mira Mesa

SAN DIEGO, CA — A man who stabbed a pregnant woman multiple times in broad daylight at a drive-thru ATM in Mira Mesa pleaded guilty Friday to attempted murder.

Cole Klemke, 29, is expected to be sentenced next month to 10 years in state prison for the June 15, 2024 attack on a woman who was four months pregnant.

The victim was attacked around 10 a.m. after she pulled up to an ATM near the Target store on Mira Mesa Boulevard.

The woman exited the vehicle in order to reach the machine, at which point Klemke approached from behind and stabbed her in the face and neck. The attack sent her to the ground, at which point Klemke punched the woman and tried to stab her additional times, according to testimony from a preliminary hearing held earlier this year.

The woman was able to fight off her attacker by kicking him, causing him to flee, according to prosecutors.

She was hospitalized, but was released later that day.

San Diego Police Det. Kate Brooker testified at the preliminary hearing that police circulated photographs captured from surveillance cameras of the attacker to the public, resulting in a tipster contacting police and identifying Klemke as the man in the pictures.

Klemke was arrested one day after the stabbing.

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