4 people killed and 5 wounded in stabbings in northern Illinois, with a suspect in custody

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — Four people were killed and five were hurt in stabbings in northern Illinois on Wednesday, authorities said.

A suspect is in police custody and was being questioned Wednesday afternoon, according to Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd. She said one of the people who was wounded remained in critical condition.

Rockford’s population is about 150,000 and it’s 90 miles (144.84 kilometers) miles northwest of Chicago.

“My heart goes out to the families right now that are suffering a loss,” Redd told reporters.

She said the Rockford Police received a medical call at 1:14 p.m. followed by additional calls for police and paramedics. She said in the city, “we have four individuals who are deceased. We have one that’s in critical condition right now and an additional four that are in stable condition.”

Redd said that not all of the victims had stab wounds. None were shot.

“We have a suspect in custody who is being interviewed at this time,” she said. We don’t believe there’s any other suspects that are on the run or at large at this particular time.”

“Right now, we don’t have a clear motive as to what caused this individual to commit such a heinous crime,” Redd added.

The suspect was arrested by a Winnebago County sheriff’s deputy, said Sheriff Gary Caruana.

A resident said she witnessed the arrest on Wednesday.

“All of the sudden, we heard police run up on both sides of the house screaming ‘Stop! Get down!’,” Vanessa Hy told WREX-TV. “Then they ran into the backyard and after a few minutes we saw them bringing the suspect down the driveway in handcuffs and he was very bloody.”

“It was like a movie, you know, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Hy added.

Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara wrote on the city’s Facebook page that “multiple jurisdictions” are “working on multiple crime scenes to develop an understanding of what transpired in an effort to prevent this from happening again.”

The violence Wednesday came days after a teenage employee of a Walmart in Rockford was stabbed and killed inside the store.

“Today, we are shocked by another horrific act of violence against innocent members of our community,” McNamara added. “We can report that the suspect is in custody and the threat has been neutralized. Now that he is in custody, our primary concern is ensuring that our community members directly impacted by this violence are supported throughout their healing and recovery.”