ROCKFORD — Four people were killed and seven more were wounded in a mass stabbing early Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. A 22-year-old man thought to be the sole attacker was in custody.
A Rockford Police Department representative said Thursday morning a total of seven people were injured, though officials had originally said five were wounded alongside the four dead.
On the block late into the evening, a woman clutched her tote bag as she left the taped-off crime scene in the 2300 block of Holmes Street. Outside a low-slung blue house, people clustered with men in blue gloves while a neighbor peered out his window a few homes over.
Of the seven people wounded, one was listed in critical condition while the others were stable, Rockford police Chief Carla Redd told reporters Wednesday. At least one of the victims’ injuries was neither stabbing nor gunshot-related, she said. Authorities had not determined a motive.
Those killed include a 15-year-old girl, a 63-year-old woman and two men, ages 22 and 49, police said in a news release late Wednesday evening. Their identities weren’t immediately released.
Police were called to the street at about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, Redd said. The stabbings occurred near the area of Cleveland Avenue, Holmes Street and Eggleston Road, Rockford police said in a social media update posted just after 3 p.m.
Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana said the victims included a young woman who ran from the suspect but was stabbed in the hands and face and a good Samaritan who tried to intervene and help the woman. The woman was in serious condition and the man who helped her was “fine,” Caruana said.
Officials offered their condolences to the victims’ families.
“Words can’t even express my thoughts right now,” Redd said. “My heart goes out to the families who are suffering a loss.”
On Holmes Street late Wednesday, emergency lights mingled with the glow of a set of still-working Christmas lights and others from a Salvation Army truck.
Norma McCarten, 86, said she has lived on the street 55 years and said nothing prepared her for this day. She said she didn’t hear or see anything until the police arrived.
She wondered if her “favorite mailman” was injured in the attack, McCarten said.
“We were wondering if it was him, and it was,” she said.
Neighbor Tim Schwanke, 63, said the people in the home where authorities were concentrating their efforts were “dear close friends.
“Coached one of their kids in baseball,” Schwanke said. “From what I understand the mother and the younger son were home” at the time of the stabbings.
Rockford Ald. Mark Bonne, 14th, said he had been knocking on doors for two hours late Wednesday and was being briefed by police.
“Talking to the neighbors, the death of the mail carrier is weighing heavily on people,” the alderman said. “This neighborhood still has door-side mailboxes so the mail carrier walks the route and is on your doorstep every day.”
Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara called the attacks “random and senseless,” announcing that Flinn Middle School would be open for neighborhood residents and the victims’ families to receive counseling services on Thursday.
Resident Eric Patterson described the rampage that turned his quiet street into a crime scene as nonsensical.
“You can’t rationalize this,” Patterson said. “It’s almost like playing a video game, but it’s reality. It makes no sense. It’s like ‘Grand Theft Auto.’ ‘I’m going to run over the mailman here. I’m going to stab a couple people there. I am going to go in this house over here.’”
Cassandra Hernandez, another Cleveland Avenue neighbor, said she is friends with one of the victims and fears for the life of the postal worker who neighbors believe was both hit by a vehicle and stabbed during the attack. The sheriff said a postal worker was also “involved” in the incident, but didn’t elaborate.
“You never expect this here,” Hernandez said. “We have such great neighbors,” she said, describing the postal worker as “a very good man. I am very sad.”
The Associated Press contributed.
