A 7-year-old girl was stabbed to death on a Chicago sidewalk Saturday, and bystanders detained an adult female suspect before police took her into custody.
Just before noon on Saturday, Edi Mari Hernandez Chacon was walking southbound on a sidewalk in a shopping district in the Chatham neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side when an unidentified adult woman approached her, ABC News reported.
Chicago police said the attacker pulled out a sharp object and stabbed the child repeatedly in the back. The girl was rushed to Comer Children’s Hospital and pronounced dead. Detectives are investigating. Police have not said whether the suspect knew the child or whether the attack was random.
Witnesses did not wait for squad cars. People who saw the stabbing grabbed the offender and held her until officers arrived.
The Chicago Police Department described the assault in plain terms.
"The offender displayed a sharp object and stabbed the victim multiple times in the back,"
police said, adding that bystanders who saw it happen detained the offender.
The suspect was hurt during the detention, treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, and then taken into custody. No name has been released. No charges were listed in the initial police account.
WLS reported on security footage that appeared to show the 7-year-old walking hand-in-hand with a woman before the stabbing, then bystanders rushing in to pin down the suspect. The identity of the woman walking with the child was not provided.
Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Edi Mari Hernandez Chacon. She was seven years old. She was on a public sidewalk in broad daylight in her own neighborhood.
Chicago Alderman Michelle Harris, who represents Chatham, posted a statement online after the killing.
"I am deeply saddened by the senseless stabbing of a 7-year-old child in our neighborhood. My heart goes out to her family, friends, and everyone who is affected by this horrific incident. No child should ever have to experience violence or fear while simply walking down the sidewalk,"
Harris wrote. She also credited the civilians who intervened.
"Their quick actions may have prevented further harm."
That is the thin official record so far: a little girl stabbed multiple times in the back, a woman held by strangers on the street, a hospital pronouncement of death, and an open investigation with the motive still unstated.
A child walking on a Chicago sidewalk should make it home. When that basic promise fails, the public is left with a name, a crime scene, and hard questions police have not yet answered.
