A young mother was in critical condition Thursday after she was struck in the head while taking her daughter to school in Roxbury, police said.

The 25-year-old woman was pushing a baby in a stroller and leading her 7-year-old down Waumbeck Street to William Monroe Trotter Elementary School at 7:15 a.m. when she was hit with a blunt object by an attacker who had been following her, Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans told reporters. The woman was taken to the hospital.

“Hopefully, she’s going to make it, but right now she’s got a bad wound in the back of her head,’’ Evans said. “We’re all praying that she pulls through.’’

The woman did not appear to have been robbed. Evans said her purse was still in the stroller when police arrived.

The Boston public schools said counselors were sent to the school for “any students or staff who may have witnessed or become affected by the incident.’’

Anita Christmas, 34, was walking her 5-year-old son to the school when she saw the woman lying on the ground and officers rushing toward her.

Another woman who had been walking along the block called the police, Christmas said.

The injured woman’s daughter cried out, “I want mommy,’’ as another girl tried to comfort her, she said.

“It’s just sad . . . this is what [the girl] is going to remember,’’ Christmas said. “I see this woman walking her child to school every day. I just cried and prayed. There’s nothing else you can really do.’’

William Miranda, 30, was walking his 9-year-old daughter to school when he saw police flooding the block and the school’s principal comforting the girl.

Other people saw an officer holding the baby in the stroller.

Cynthia Leger said her neighbors told her they saw a man walking slowly behind the woman before striking her in the head.

One woman who declined to be named said the man cut through her relatives’ yard at 45 Waumbeck St. where there was blood on the sidewalk.

Shortly after the woman was struck, Yajaira Paulino, 30, said she opened her door and saw the victim lying on the ground bleeding.

Residents said they felt uneasy.

“It makes you feel uncomfortable, unsafe . . . especially for my kids,’’ Paulino said.

The police department’s homicide unit is investigating the attack.

Carpio Fermin, the owner of a store on the corner of Warren and Waumbeck streets, said police took video from his store that showed the woman stopping there with her children before walking toward the school Thursday morning.

Evans asked for the public’s help in identifying the attacker.

“The community needs to step up here,’’ he said. “Anyone who would hurt a young mother like that, we need to get them.’’

Jan Ransom can be reached at jan.ransom@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jan_Ransom.