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Shavon Gayden, 48, was charged with one felony count of
first-degree murder in connection with the death, Chicago police
said in a statement Sunday.
Police said the girl was walking in the Chatham neighborhood
Saturday morning when a woman carrying an unspecified sharp
object approached her and stabbed her multiple times in the
back. Bystanders chased after the woman and detained her, police
said. Television networks showed a commercial strip lined with a
restaurant, a nail salon and a market cordoned off by police
tape afterward.
Gayden, who is from Chicago, was initially scheduled to appear
for a hearing Monday morning but was hospitalized and was not
going to appear, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office said
in an email. Her injuries were not considered life-threatening.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the child
as Edi Mari Hernandez Chacon. She was pronounced dead at Comer
Children's Hospital.
A security photo from a nearby business showed the girl walking
hand in hand with an older female when she was attacked, WLS-TV
reported.
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.
Attempts to reach members of Gayden’s family by phone were
unsuccessful. Matthew Hendrickson, press secretary for the Cook
County Public Defender, said that the office was assigned to
Gayden at a hearing Monday but declined to comment further.
In a GoFundMe post to raise funds for a funeral, the girl's
uncle, Richard Hernandez Chacon, wrote that Edi Mari's “passing
leaves an indescribable void and profound grief in all of us who
loved her.”
Messages left with Hernandez Chacon and another person believed
to be a family member were not immediately returned.
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