Suspect in killing of boy, stabbing of pregnant woman had just gotten out of jail
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An 11-year-old boy was dead, and his pregnant mother was fighting for her life Wednesday night, after they were attacked in their Edgewater neighborhood home in what police have called a domestic incident.
CBS 2 has learned the man identified as the prime suspect in the attack, who is now in custody, has a violent history of domestic battery. He was just released from jail on Tuesday.
Police said, around 8 a.m. Wednesday, officers responded to a call from the 5900 block of North Ravenswood Avenue, where they found an 11-year-old boy who had suffered an injury to his chest and a 33-year-old woman who had suffered multiple stab wounds. Police did not initially say what caused the boy's injuries, but the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed he died of a stab wound to the chest.
Emergency crews rushed both victims to Ascension St. Francis Hospital, where the boy died, and the woman was in critical condition with a cut to her neck. A police source said the victims are mother and son, and the mother is eight months pregnant.
The boy is identified as Jayden Perkins.
Police said the incident appeared to be domestic and isolated in nature – as did Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), who lives blocks away from the scene.
Neighbors in the apartment complex off Peterson and Ravenswood Avenues – right near the now-under-construction Peterson Ridge station on the Union Pacific North Metra Line – were awoken to frightening cries for help.
"Screaming, just screaming – yelling, screaming, 'Help!'" a neighbor said.
The screams echoed from across the hall on the first floor, where Jayden and his mother were being attacked by a man wielding a knife.
Neighbors said they were too scared to intervene.
"I heard the screaming. I heard someone screaming for help, and then I just heard sirens. So I was like, 'Hey, the police or the ambulance have gotten taken care of it, and that's about it. And to walk out, and it's a homicide, it's very sad," said the neighbor, who did not want to be identified.
A police dispatch radio transmission indicated that a neighbor was asked to call for help, with the mother bleeding from the neck and her son on the floor.
Upon arriving, first responders discovered Jayden had been stabbed in the chest and soon to die, and his mother barely hanging on after being knifed all over her body, including her neck. Investigators clearly knew for whom they were looking right away.
The suspect's violent criminal history
The suspect had been released from custody in jail hours before, and he had also served eight and a half years in prison for aggravated domestic battery and home invasion, according to court records.
CBS 2 is not naming the man because he has not yet been charged in this case. But his ex-girlfriend said over the phone that she can't understand why he was ever released.
This was given that court records showed the man "forced his way into the apartment of his former girlfriend," then "attacked [girlfriend] and threatened her 15-year-old son," and then "put a gun to [girlfriend's] chin... pushed her up against the wall... and began choking her."
The man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the home invasion, yet was paroled last year in October. Now, he is accused of coming into the Edgewater apartment a day after another arrested – and killing a child while injuring his pregnant mother.
The stunned neighbor described Jayden as a "great" kid and the family as "calm" and "loving."
"She was a lovable woman, and her son was very well-mannered, and spoke to me all the time," the neighbor said, "and I'm sorry for this tragic."
Family could be seen outside the residential building late Tuesday, embracing after the devastating loss.
"I'm surprised by the whole thing, because I know them as the mom, the fiancée, and the two boys. I just found out that she was pregnant with her first daughter – eight months. I wasn't even aware of that," said another woman who lives in the complex. "I'm devastated. I live on this compound. I have a 2-year-old, a 7-year-old, an 11-year-old, and I just can't wrap my head around it – like, flabbergasted."
Meanwhile, the ex-girlfriend who had the suspect sent to prison said the Parole Board should have made sure he served the full sentence. Like so many, she is thinking of the family torn apart.
The suspect remained in custody Wednesday night as the mother recovered in the hospital. Police have not said how the mother and the suspect knew each other.
Chicago police said they will announce charges in the attack Friday morning around 11 a.m.