A 53-year-old Chicago man has been charged with attempted first-degree murder following a violent machete attack on his 38-year-old female neighbor in Lawndale.
The incident occurred around 6:25 p.m. on June 8 in the 2100 block of South Pulaski Road, according to Chicago police.
Court filings reveal that the victim, who owns a construction company, was in an alley preparing to pay a worker when Jose Hernandez allegedly ran toward her wielding a machete.
Prosecutors stated that Hernandez struck the woman four or five times, targeting her head, neck, back, arm, and torso. The attack left her with multiple lacerations that required stitches at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
The woman’s son and two other witnesses chased Hernandez down the alley after the attack, prosecutors said. When they caught up to him, Hernandez reportedly swung the machete again, striking one of the men in the arm, causing a minor injury. The group managed to subdue Hernandez, shoving him to the ground. They disarmed him, tossed the machete aside, and then returned to check on the victim, according officials said in a court filing.
Prosecutors noted in a detention petition that Hernandez “made admissions” to the police, expressing regret for the incident and admitting he had been drinking beforehand.
They said Hernandez claimed the woman owed him $800 for work her performed and she had given him three checks, but he believed she still owed him more. He alleged she refused to pay him more because he is undocumented, prosecutors said in a filing supporting their allegations.
The woman, however, told police Hernandez was a “known drunk” who had worked for her briefly in 2017 and again last year for a two-day job, but she stopped hiring him due to his drinking.
Judge Shauna Boliker granted the prosecution’s detention petition, ordering Hernandez to remain in custody pending trial.
