A 7-year-old girl died after she was stabbed Saturday morning in the 8600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood, and police said bystanders detained the woman suspected in the attack until officers arrived.
The girl was taken to Comer Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Family members identified her as Eddimar Paola Hernandez. Police said the suspect was injured as people at the scene held her until officers got there, and she later went to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening before being taken into custody.
The attack happened about 11:55 a.m., when police said the child was walking southbound and an adult woman approached her, showed a sharp object and stabbed her multiple times in the back. That sequence put the case at the center of attention in Chatham on Saturday, not only because of the victim's age but because it happened in broad daylight on a public sidewalk.
There are still basic questions investigators have not answered. Police have not said whether the girl and the suspect knew each other, and Area Two detectives are still working to determine a motive. Security video from the area appears to show the girl walking hand-in-hand with a woman before the attack, and additional video appears to show bystanders rushing toward the scene to detain the suspect.
The reaction in the neighborhood was immediate. Denesta Freeman said her daughter is the same age as the victim and described the killing as something that hit her like a personal loss. She said she could not understand how a 7-year-old could be stabbed, and said she felt as if it had been her own child. Ald. Michelle Harris of the 8th Ward said she was deeply saddened by the stabbing and thanked the bystanders who intervened, urging anyone with information to contact the Chicago Police Department.
The case now turns on what detectives can learn from the footage, the witness accounts and the relationship, if any, between the two women. For Eddimar Paola Hernandez's family, though, the most immediate fact is already settled: a child left home alive on Saturday and never came back.
