Chicago police have charged Shavon Gayden, 48, with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of a 7-year-old girl on the South Side. Authorities say the attack appeared to be unprovoked.
The girl was walking with her older sister on the 8600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday when Gayden approached them from behind, a police report says. The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the child as Edi Mari Hernandez-Chacon. She was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Bystanders detained Gayden until officers arrived, according to the report. Court records show she previously pleaded guilty in a case involving a threat to stab a bus driver and in a later battery case. A judge issued a warrant after she missed a February 2025 court date in the earlier case; it apparently had not been executed. Police said she was scheduled for a detention hearing Monday.
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