AUGUSTA — A woman police believe was working with New York City gangs to distribute drugs in central Maine was indicted on charges of attempted murder and elevated aggravated assault for allegedly slicing the throat of a woman during an argument in February. 

Quashay Phillips, 24, allegedly used a 3- to 4-inch-long knife to slash the throat of Brooke Olum during an argument Feb. 11 at a home at 72 Davenport St. in Augusta. 

Phillips was angry because Olum had refused to go to Walmart to buy her anything, according to an affidavit filed seeking her arrest by Augusta Police Detective Matthew Estes. During the argument, Olum’s boyfriend came into the room and joined the argument and told Phillips she had to leave and insulted her. But he was pushed back out of the room by Olum and when she turned back around Phillips “sliced her neck,” causing her to bleed profusely and scream. Other occupants of the home came to her aid by placing towels on her neck and driving her to the hospital. 

While police were interviewing the victim at the hospital a surgeon said her external jugular vein was severed but the cut missed her carotid artery by a couple of millimeters which, if severed, would have almost certainly caused fatal damage, according to the affidavit. 

Witnesses in the home at the time of the alleged incident said they didn’t see Phillips cut the victim but one woman said she saw her pull the knife away and a man there said he saw her holding the knife and trying to clean it off after the victim was cut. 

Police searched the home and found blood splatter and blood droplets on the floor and wall of the middle bedroom. 

The victim and one witness, who both knew Phillips as “QP” and said she was from New York, identified her as the suspect for police in a photo lineup. 

Estes wrote in the affidavit, in February, it was unknown where Phillips was but that it was more likely than not she was attempting to return to New York. He wrote that police were aware Phillips was working with gangs operating out of New York City to distribute narcotics in the central Maine area and said there had been an influx of two gangs, the Chico Gang and the Flowboyz, in the Augusta area over the last two years. 

Phillips was later arrested in Schenectady, New York, according to court documents, and extradited to Maine to face charges. 

She remains at Kennebec County jail in Augusta, with bail set at $100,000. 

Both charges against her are class A crimes, punishable by up to 30 years in prison. 

Her attorney, Lisa Whittier, filed motions to have Phillips’ competency to stand trial and mental state evaluated. 

A dispositional conference on the elevated aggravated assault charge was scheduled for Wednesday. 

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