Crime & Law

Woman Charged With Murdering 7-Year-Old Girl Threatened to Stab Store Worker Minutes Earlier: Prosecutors

The woman accused of the random fatal stabbing of 7-year-old Eddimar Hernandez Chacon had allegedly threatened to kill another person moments earlier and attempted to stab the girl’s sister on a busy street on Chicago’s South Side last week.

A Cook County judge on Friday ordered that Shavon Gayden, 48, remain held at Cook County Jail, days after she was charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 3 killing.

According to Cook County prosecutors, Eddimar and her 17-year-old sister were on their way to a store just before noon that day in the 8600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood.

At that same time, Gayden was in another store nearby where she was attempting to pay her cellphone bill, prosecutors said. After growing impatient with the employees there, she allegedly demanded a refund and threatened to kill a sales associate by stabbing them in the neck.

Instead, Gayden left that business and began walking down the street when she saw Eddimar and her sister. According to prosecutors, surveillance footage showed Gayden running toward the pair with her arm raised.

Another witness said they saw Gayden reach into her handbag and pull out a small item before lunging at Eddimar’s sister, who ducked and moved away. Gayden then allegedly grabbed Eddimar, pulled her to the ground and began stabbing her.

Multiple witnesses sought to intervene before Gayden put the knife back in her bag and began to walk away, prosecutors said. Some witnesses tried to detain Gayden and asked why she had stabbed a child, but she allegedly made stabbing motions toward them before continuing on.

One witness then struck Gayden, knocking her to the ground, according to prosecutors.

Police and emergency medical professionals arrived and Eddimar was rushed to a local hospital, but she soon died of her injuries. Prosecutors said she had been stabbed four times in the back.

Police found Gayden unconscious on the ground, and she too was hospitalized. Investigators recovered a five-inch knife from the ground near the stabbing scene and two more knives in a bag Gayden was carrying, prosecutor said.

Gayden has several previous criminal cases, according to prosecutors. While two of those cases were ultimately dismissed, she pleaded guilty to assault and battery last year and was facing a warrant stemming from the 2023 assault of a CTA bus driver.

Gayden had been scheduled to appear in court earlier this week but remained hospitalized and was unable to attend a hearing until Friday.

She is due back in court Oct. 26.

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