Inset, left to right: Eddimar Paola Hernández Chacón (GoFundMe) and Shavon Gayden (Chicago Police). Background: The area in Chicago where Gayden allegedly killed the child (WLS).
A 48-year-old woman in Illinois is accused of randomly attacking and killing a 7-year-old girl, allegedly stabbing the child in the back multiple times as she walked with her older sister on a Chicago sidewalk.
Shavon Gayden was taken into custody immediately after the incident and charged with one count of first-degree murder in the slaying of Eddimar Paola Hernández Chacón, authorities announced.
According to a press release from the Chicago Police Department, Gayden walked up to the girl shortly before noon Saturday in the 8600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in the city”s Chatham neighborhood, pulled out a sharp object and stabbed her.
“The offender approached from the south and, unprovoked, produced a knife and began stabbing the victim,” officers wrote in a police report obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Witnesses intervened after the stabbing and detained Gayden until officers arrived, police said. Gayden was reportedly injured during the confrontation and taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries before being placed in police custody.
Eddimar was taken to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, where the medical staff pronounced her dead at 1:01 p.m., the Sun-Times reported.
Surveillance footage obtained by investigators showed Eddimar walking hand-in-hand with her older sister shortly before the attack. Other footage showed people rushing toward the scene after the stabbing, local ABC affiliate WLS reported.
The Sun-Times reported that officers arriving at the scene found the girl bleeding on the sidewalk as a crowd gathered around her. Officers applied pressure to her wounds while trying to get an ambulance to the location. An ambulance arrived about 10 minutes later, and police escorted it to Comer Children’s Hospital.
Gayden was chased down by several bystanders, one of whom struck her with jumper cables, knocking her down before several people subdued her, local CW affiliate WGN reported.
“He whacked her with it,” a witness told the station, referring to the bystander with the jumper cables striking Gayden. “She fell, he whacked her again. Then they just started dropping the hammers on her.”
Investigators recovered two knives from Gayden’s purse, while a third knife believed to have been used in the stabbing was found between the attack site and the location where Gayden was subdued, according to CWBChicago, a local news website.
Eddimar’s family, friends and community members gathered Sunday for a vigil at the spot where she was killed. Family members remembered her as a happy child who loved to draw, play with her siblings and wait by the window for her parents to return from work.
Eddimar’s mother, Estefany Hernandez, called for justice.
“My daughter’s death should not be left like this,” Hernandez said, according to WLS. “There must be justice for my little girl. She wasn’t bothering anyone.”
Police have not released a possible motive.
Ald. Michelle Harris said Gayden had allegedly been involved in an altercation with employees at a nearby wireless store before the stabbing. Police have not said whether that incident was connected to Eddimar’s death.
“No child should ever have to experience violence or fear while simply walking down the sidewalk,” Harris said in a Facebook post. “I also want to recognize and thank the bystanders who quickly intervened — helping to detain the suspect and get assistance on the way. Their quick actions may have prevented further harm.”
Gayden is scheduled for a detention hearing Monday at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
Court records reviewed by CWB show Gayden pleaded guilty in November 2024 to aggravated battery of a CTA bus driver and received two years of probation. She was arrested again the following month on misdemeanor battery and assault charges, later pleaded guilty to those charges in July 2025 and received court supervision.
CWB reported that Gayden also had an active arrest warrant dating to February 2025 after she failed to appear for a status hearing in the probation case. That warrant remained active when she was arrested Saturday.
A GoFundMe for the victim’s memorial is available here.
