A 7-year-old girl was stabbed to death by a twisted stranger who ran up behind her and attacked her on a Chicago street in the middle of the day.
Edimari Hernandez Chacon died following the horrific attack in the South Side neighborhood of Chatham, when a woman she didn’t know ran up behind her and stabbed her multiple times in the back with a sharp object shortly before 12 p.m., WLS reported.
Surveillance video shows Edimari walking hand-in-hand with another woman before the attack and then witnesses frantically running over to help after she was knifed, according to NBC Chicago.
The girl was rushed to a nearby children’s hospital, where she was pronounced dead on Saturday afternoon.
Her alleged attacker, who has not been identified, was detained by brave bystanders until police arrived.
She was later taken into custody after receiving treatment at a local hospital for injuries sustained while being detained.
It is not known what, if anything, prompted the horrific stabbing.
Residents expressed outrage at the attack.
“I just don’t know what this world is coming to … for a 7-year-old girl like that to be getting stabbed,” resident Denesta Freeman told WLS.
“I never thought it would come to this point. I never did. These kids nowadays are not getting to live their life,” she added.
“As a mom, I feel hurt! Because my daughter is the same age. I feel hurt! I feel like it was my child,” added another woman, who asked not to be identified.
Local politicians have also spoken out following the news, with alderwoman Michelle Harris saying she was “deeply saddened by the senseless stabbing” in her neighborhood.
Harris also thanked the “bystanders who quickly intervened—helping to detain the suspect and get assistance on the way,” adding that their actions “may have prevented further harm.”
The Chicago Police Department did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
