Edgewater woman murdered man who tried to de-escalate knife attack, prosecutors say

Chicago — An Edgewater woman fatally stabbed a man who tried to calm her down after she attacked another man with a knife on Thursday, prosecutors said. Judge Kelly McCarthy ordered Isis Monae, 23, held without bail on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon during a bond hearing Sunday afternoon.

A 26-year-old man told police that he was in his car in the 5200 block of North Sheridan around 11:30 p.m., waiting for his girlfriend to come out, when Monae climbed into his passenger seat and asked if he wanted to have sex.

Isis Monae | Chicago Police Department; Google

He refused and began to get out of the car, then suddenly felt pain in his back. He quickly realized Monae had stabbed him, officials said.

Monae allegedly exited the car and began yelling and stabbing its tires with a knife.

As the man’s girlfriend came out of a nearby apartment building, she saw Monae chasing her boyfriend down the street and into an alley, according to prosecutors. He circled back, grabbed a hammer from inside his car, chased Monae, and struck her with the tool.

Prosecutors said that he lost his grip on the hammer, and Monae’s knife fell into a nearby bus stop.

The man and his girlfriend took shelter inside an apartment building, but Monae allegedly picked up the knife and began chasing the man again when he walked outside.

That’s when the other victim, a 21-year-old man, walked out of the 5250 North Sheridan complex and tried to calm Monae down. She stabbed him one time in the chest, killing him, officials said.

Monae stabbed the first man’s car tires again and fled before the police arrived. Officers arrested her at a nearby McDonald’s later the same day after neighbors identified her as a suspect, prosecutors said.

A bystander recorded parts of what happened on their phone, and police say they found a knife in Monae’s purse.

During an interview, Monae allegedly told detectives that she was drinking but recalled that an “Asian guy” threw a hammer at her, so she cut his tires with a knife she found on the ground.

She also allegedly told police that “sometimes there is witchcraft done to me.”

Her public defender said Monae suffers from mental health conditions, including psychosis.

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