A guy went on a stabbing rampage Wednesday across various places in a northern Illinois city, killing four people and injuring seven, according to investigators.
A 22-year-old guy is in police custody and being questioned, according to Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd. She stated that one of the wounded victims was still in critical condition.
“My heart goes out to the families who are currently suffering a loss,” Redd told reporters.
She stated that the Rockford Police Department got a medical call at 1:14 p.m., which was followed by numerous calls for police and paramedics.
“We don’t believe there’s any other suspects that are on the run or at large at this particular time,” Redd said in a statement. “Right now, we don’t have a clear motive as to what caused this individual to commit such a heinous crime.”
According to Redd, not all of the bodies discovered at various homes throughout the city had stab wounds, and none were shot.
Rockford Police first reported that five people had been hurt. Cori Hilliard, a public information officer with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed to The Associated Press Wednesday evening that two more people were injured.
Three persons perished at the spot. The fourth died in the hospital.
Police later identified the four victims as a 15-year-old girl, a 63-year-old lady, a 49-year-old male, and a 22-year-old man. Their names have not been disclosed.
According to Redd, people in the neighborhood have been urged to evaluate their home surveillance camera footage for any evidence of the attacks.
Rockford has a population of approximately 150,000 and is located 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Chicago. The violence on Wednesday came only days after a teenage Walmart employee in Rockford was stabbed and killed inside.
“Today, we are shocked by another horrific act of violence against innocent members of our community,” Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara declared. Now that the suspect has been apprehended, he stated, “Our primary concern is ensuring that our community members directly impacted by this violence are supported throughout their healing and recovery.”
The mayor said on the city’s Facebook page that “multiple jurisdictions” are “working on multiple crime scenes to develop an understanding of what transpired in an effort to prevent this from happening again.”
A Winnebago County sheriff’s officer detained the suspect after responding to an allegation of a home invasion, according to Sheriff Gary Caruana.
“The young lady ran from him,” Caruana said of one of the survivors. “She sustained some stab wounds to her wrists and face. She is in severe condition. One of the nice Samaritans stopped to help her. He received some stab wounds. He’s being checked out.”
Eric Patterson, a resident, said he was difficult to make sense of the violence on his neighborhood.
“You can’t rationalize this,” Patterson told the Rockford Register-Star. “It’s almost like playing a computer game, only it’s real. It doesn’t make sense. It’s like Grand Theft Auto. ‘I’m about to run over the mailman here. I’m going to stab some people there. “I am going to go into this house over here.”
Vanessa Hy, another Rockford resident, told WREX-TV that watching the arrest felt unreal, “like a movie.”
“All of a sudden, we heard police rush up on all sides of the house, screaming ‘Stop! “Get down!” Hy informed the station. “Then they ran into the backyard and after a few minutes we saw them bringing the suspect down the driveway in handcuffs and he was very bloody.”
Another neighbor, Cassandra Hernandez, told the Rockford newspaper that she is acquaintances with one of the victims.
“You never expect this here,” Hernandez explained. “We have such great neighbors.”