Chicago authorities charged a 48-year-old woman with first-degree murder after police say she fatally stabbed a 7-year-old girl in broad daylight on a South Side sidewalk Saturday, an attack investigators described as unprovoked.
Shavon Gayden was arrested minutes after the stabbing near the 8600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in the East Chatham neighborhood, according to the Chicago Police Department. The victim, identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office as Eddimar Paola Hernández Chacón, was walking with her 16-year-old sister after the pair left a nearby phone store. Police said Gayden approached from behind, produced a knife, and stabbed the child multiple times in the back. The girl was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Bystanders who witnessed the attack chased Gayden and restrained her until officers arrived. She was treated for non-life-threatening injuries sustained during the confrontation before being taken into custody. A Chicago police report stated the attack appeared unprompted. Investigators recovered knives from the scene and from Gayden’s belongings, according to local reporting.
Court records show Gayden is a repeat offender with multiple prior cases in Cook County. In September 2023, she was charged with aggravated battery of a transit employee after an incident involving a CTA bus driver; she later pleaded guilty and received probation. Additional battery and assault cases followed, including one that resulted in a probation violation. Records indicate she had an active felony warrant for failing to appear in court at the time of Saturday’s killing. Two earlier domestic battery cases against her were dropped.
Gayden is scheduled for a detention hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. Family members of the victim held a vigil at the scene Sunday. Relatives of Gayden told local outlets they had previously sought mental-health and substance-abuse treatment for her and questioned why earlier cases ended in probation rather than incarceration.
The killing occurred in a city that has long struggled with violent crime on its South and West Sides. Chicago recorded hundreds of homicides in recent years, with a disproportionate share concentrated in a limited number of neighborhoods. Critics of local criminal-justice policies have pointed to cases involving defendants with extensive records who remain free on probation or supervision as evidence that current practices fail to protect the public. Police and prosecutors have not announced a motive.
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