Four people were murdered and five injured in a mass stabbing spree in the sleepy northern Illinois town of Rockford on Wednesday.
According to Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd, a suspect was taken into custody and questioned Wednesday afternoon. The identity of the suspect was not released.
“We have four individuals who are deceased,” Redd said. “We have one that’s in critical condition right now and an additional four that are in stable condition.”
According to Redd, not all of the victims had stab wounds, and none were shot.
Three persons died on the scene. The fourth died in the hospital.
“We don’t believe there’s any other suspects that are on the run or at large at this particular time,” she said. “Right now, we don’t have a clear motive as to what caused this individual to commit such a heinous crime.”
Redd urged people in the neighborhood to evaluate their home security camera video for any evidence of the assaults.
Rockford has a population of around 150,000 and is located 90 miles (144.84 kilometers) northwest of Chicago. The violence on Wednesday happened only days after a teenage Walmart employee in Rockford was attacked and murdered inside.
“Today, we are shocked by another horrific act of violence against innocent members of our community,” Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara said. Now that the suspect is in custody, he continued, “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 got some stab wounds in her hands and her face. She is in serious condition. One of the good Samaritans stopped to help her out. He did get some stab wounds. He is being checked out.”
Eric Patterson, a resident, said it was difficult to make sense of the violence.
“You can’t rationalize this,” Patterson told the Rockford Register Star. “It’s almost like playing a video game, but it’s reality. It makes no sense. It’s like Grand Theft Auto. ‘I’m going to run over the mailman here. I’m going to stab a couple people there. I am going to go in this house over here.’”
Another neighbor, Cassandra Hernandez, told the Rockford newspaper that she is acquaintances with one of the victims.
“You never expect this here,” Hernandez said. “We have such great neighbors.”
