7-Year-Old Girl Killed While Walking With Her Sister in Chicago

A Saturday morning walk with her older sister turned into an unimaginable tragedy when a 7-year-old Chicago girl was fatally attacked on a busy sidewalk in broad daylight.

The child, identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office as Edi Mari Hernandez Chacon, also known by her family as Eddimar Paola Hernandez, was walking in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood shortly before noon on Oct. 3 when police say a woman approached her and stabbed her multiple times in the back.

According to family members, Eddimar was walking hand-in-hand with her older sister when the attack happened. Surveillance footage reportedly captured the children walking along the sidewalk shortly before the incident. Witnesses then rushed toward the scene and chased down the suspect, eventually restraining her until police arrived.

Eddimar was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police identified the suspect as 48-year-old Shavon Gayden, who has been charged with first-degree murder. She was also treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries after being detained by bystanders. Her initial court appearance was delayed, with another hearing scheduled for Oct. 7.

The circumstances leading up to the attack remain under investigation. Authorities have not announced a motive or confirmed that Gayden knew the child. Local officials said Gayden had reportedly been involved in an altercation with employees at a nearby wireless store shortly before the stabbing.

For Eddimar’s family, the questions are now overshadowed by an unbearable loss.

At a community vigil held near the scene, relatives described the little girl as happy and full of dreams. Her mother, Estefany Hernandez, broke down while calling for justice for her daughter.

“She wasn’t bothering anyone,” Hernandez said, according to ABC News.

The tragedy has also shaken the surrounding community, with local officials praising the bystanders who intervened and helped detain the suspect before police arrived.

As investigators work to determine exactly what happened and why, one family is left mourning a child who had barely begun her life — and a Saturday morning that should have ended with her safely back home.

Source: PEOPLE, ABC News, Associated Press, NBC Chicago.