Alan Perez, 25, charged in River North road rage stabbing that killed 36-year-old Jeremy Walker
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man has been charged in a road rage stabbing that left a 36-year-old father dead in River North this week.
As CBS 2' s Suzanne Le Mignot reported Friday, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown announced Alan Perez, 25, has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing that killed Jeremy Walker Tuesday evening.
At 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, the two men got into an isolated road rage incident as they drove northbound on Dearborn Street, Brown said. They stopped at Ohio Street and each got out of their cars.
In court Saturday prosecutors said both cars were traveling down Dearborn with Walker closely following Perez's vehicle. Both cars came to a stop and the victim yelled insults at Perez. Then they resumed driving, and Walker cut off Perez in an intersection. Perez honked at Walker then grabbed a knife and got out of his car. Walker also got out of his vehicle but had nothing in his hands.
Nearby witnesses said they saw the incident, including Walker trying to stop the stabbing and then bleeding profusely after he was stabbed in the neck.
Walker got back into his car and drove east on Michigan Avenue, where he flagged down a police officer at a fixed Magnificent Mile post.
Walker was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died.
On Wednesday, officers found the attacker's car parked in the 2200 block of West 50th Place in the Gage Park neighborhood, Brown said. While searching the car, police found two people in a home nearby who had been the passengers in the car with Perez, Brown said.
The two passengers were both witnesses to the deadly stabbing.
"They were searching the car. Occupants came to the door of one of the homes where the car was parked, came out, and began being interviewed by the detectives - and we discovered they were the occupants of the car," Brown said. "They were forthcoming with information that identified the offender."
Those witnesses were identified in court Saturday as Perez's wife and brother.
On Thursday, Perez turned himself in. In court Saturday prosecutors said he originally fled to Indiana, but after turning himself in made admissions, including the location of the knife.
Brown credited the city's Police Observation Device (POD) camera network with locating the car.
"This was a senseless act of violence; a needless traffic argument turned deadly," Brown said.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said Perez will appear for a bond hearing Saturday in Central Bond Court (Br. 1) at the George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building. Since the murder was not committed with a gun, there is no mandatory no-bail rule associated with the case and whether a bond is set will be up to the judge, Foxx said.
"This was a horrible, senseless act of violence that we will not tolerate in the City of Chicago or the County of Cook," Foxx said.
Walker left behind a 12-year-old boy, Jaylen.
"They just took a really good man from us for no reason," Walker's longtime girlfriend, Jessica Evans, said Wednesday.
Walker was on his way to pick Evans up from work Tuesday evening. He never showed up.
"I just texted him to let him know, 'Hey, I'm ready – you can be on your way; like you don't have to wait until 7 o'clock. He responded to the message and said, 'OK,'" Evans said, "and I just sat around and waited for him."
An hour and a half went by. During that hour and a half, Walker was stabbed in the neck – but Evans, of course, did not know that at the time.
Calls and texts to Walker went unanswered, so Evans tracked down his phone. After she figured out where the phone was, she walked up on her worst nightmare.
That track led her right to the crime scene, where she found her abandoned Kia – but no Walker.
"I essentially walked up on the scene of my car and the police officers," Evans said.
By the time Evans got to the hospital, it was too late.
"Why didn't nobody say anything? Like, I had his ID on him. He had his cell phone on him. I was calling him. His son was calling him. His mom was calling him," Evans said. "They took a good person. He was a good brother, and a good son, and a good father."
Police said it is possible the two passengers who were with Perez could face charges.
Perez has no criminal history.
