(Headline USA) A 7-year-old girl was fatally stabbed while walking in front of businesses in a Chicago neighborhood, and people nearby detained the woman who attacked her, police said.
Chicago police said the girl was walking in the Chatham neighborhood late Saturday morning when a woman carrying an unspecified sharp object approached her and stabbed her multiple times in the back. Television networks showed a commercial strip lined with a restaurant, nail salon and market cordoned off by red police tape afterward.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the child as Edi Mari Hernandez Chacon. She died at a hospital.
CFR CRIME REPORT
7-YEAR-OLD GIRL FATALLY STABBED IN EAST CHATHAM — SUSPECT IDENTIFIED
CHICAGO — October 4, 2026
A 7-year-old Venezuelan girl was fatally stabbed Saturday morning while walking with her older sister near 86th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in East Chatham.… pic.twitter.com/K7Nuh6e4hn
— Chicago Flips Red (@FlipChicagoRed) October 4, 2026
A security photo from a nearby business showed the girl that witnesses identified had been walking hand-in-hand with an older female on the sidewalk, WLS-TV reported. Police did not share any information about that person.
The alleged attacker was taken to the hospital with injuries that weren’t life-threatening and was arrested, Chicago police said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear if there was any relationship between the attacker and the girl. Police have not commented on a possible motive for the stabbing and declined Sunday to provide further details or identify the suspect.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
