Chicago mayor calls fatal stabbing of 7-year-old girl 'horrifying tragedy' as murder charge is filed against attacker

From the Newshound archive · first published 4 October 2026 · last updated 6 October 2026.

Seven-year-old Eddimar Paola Hernandez Chacon had been holding her older sister's hand as the two walked along South Cottage Grove Avenue at 11:55am on Saturday when Shavon Gayden, 48, approached and repeatedly stabbed the girl in the back, after which bystanders tackled Gayden and left her unconscious before police arrived. Mayor Brandon Johnson described himself as "heartbroken" by what he called a "horrifying tragedy," as Gayden was formally charged with first-degree murder. Gayden's record included five prior arrests, among them aggravated battery of a transit employee and assault of a peace officer.

Alderman Michelle Harris said Gayden had allegedly had a confrontation with employees at a nearby wireless store in the moments before she attacked the girl.

'She was happy — she had dreams, to be big,' Eddimar's stepfather Pedro Izquierdo said in Spanish at a candlelit vigil held near the scene the following day.

Gayden's own mother publicly apologised to the family, saying 'the little baby didn't deserve it.'