A transgender woman allegedly fatally stabbed a stranger she claimed bullied her about her gender in an attack so vicious that the knife broke off in the man’s skull.
Kelly Day, 32, was with her partner and 7-year-old stepson when she allegedly launched the brutal assault on 50-year-old Larry Young after being mocked for using a women’s bathroom at McDonald’s earlier that day, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Young was not among the separate group of strangers who allegedly insulted Day hours before Wednesday’s deadly stabbing on Chicago’s Far South Side, Assistant State Attorney Sara Grgurovic told the judge during a Saturday hearing at Central Bond Court.
However, he reportedly made comments about her gender when he approached her in the street, leading Day to become “extremely angry” and begin arguing with Young, while her partner tried to pull her away, Grgurovic said.
Young reportedly pushed Day before walking away toward a nearby gas station across the street, authorities said.
Day, who was born male but identifies as a woman, told her wife she didn’t want “bullies” to get away with making fun of her gender, before following Young across the street and starting up the fight again, prosecutors said.
Surveillance footage shows Day holding a knife above Young as he lay on the ground, before allegedly stabbing him 13 times in the head, neck and upper shoulders, the Tribune reported.
Day then called 911, reporting that she had been injured while protecting herself from a “pervert” before tossing the knife and fleeing the scene, prosecutors said.
The knife was later found by cops with part of the blade missing.
Day changed her story in a later 911 call, claiming she had cut herself while cooking, and was arrested at a city hospital after going in for treatment for a cut to her finger, Grgurovic said.
After her arrest, Day claimed to investigators that Young called her a gay slur, made a gun gesture, and threatened to have someone beat her up, according to reports.
An autopsy found Young died of multiple sharp force injuries, with the tip of the metal knife later recovered from his skull, according to prosecutors and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Day was charged with first-degree murder and is being held in custody pending trial due partly to the brutality of the attack.
She is next due in court on Tuesday.
