CHICAGO — The man who stabbed a Target security guard while on probation for beating an EMT into unconsciousness last year has been given a six-year prison sentence.
Roman Butler, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm in exchange for the sentence from Judge Charles Burns.
In April 2023, Butler entered the Target at 1 South State Street intending to steal a phone charger, prosecutors claimed. Store security guards stopped him as he walked out, and Butler agreed to accompany them to the store’s booking room.
But when they reached the security office, Butler refused to go inside. He began throwing shoplifted items out of his backpack, and the security officers told him to leave, according to prosecutors.
Instead of leaving, Butler allegedly pulled a large kitchen knife from his waistband, removed it from its sheath, and charged at two of the guards. The blade slashed the arm of a 25-year-old security officer, who received 20 stitches to close the wound.
Officials said Butler charged at the guards a second time but finally put the knife away and tried to leave. However, he got stuck in the revolving doors on his way out and Chicago police officers found him trapped inside the door when they arrived.
A CPD officer applied a tourniquet to the security guard’s arm to slow blood loss until a Chicago Fire Department ambulance took him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
In October 2022, a judge sentenced Butler to two years of probation for aggravated battery to an EMT. In that case, officials said first responders took Butler to a hospital after he behaved erratically on the CTA.
While a student EMT tried to treat Butler’s unspecified physical injuries, Butler kicked him in the head and body so many times that the EMT lost consciousness, according to prosecutors. Butler continued to kick him while he was down, causing him to suffer a concussion.
With good behavior, Butler will be eligible for parole after serving half his sentence on April 24, 2026.
