A man has admitted to attempted murder and has been sentenced to nine years in prison for a vicious and random knife assault on a 71-year-old woman in the South Loop. The attack occurred while she was walking her dog near Union Station in June 2024.
According to prosecutors, 27-year-old Wilson Barreno attacked the woman shortly before 2 p.m. on the 200 block of South Clinton Street. He wrapped his left arm around her neck and repeatedly stabbed her on the right side of her body and neck with his right hand.
Barreno inflicted seven stab wounds in total, each ranging from two to four centimeters deep, prosecutors stated. He punctured two of the victim’s arteries and narrowly avoided hitting one of her kidneys. The victim sustained two neck wounds, two shoulder wounds, and three back wounds, as per a report from the Chicago Police Department.
A box cutter was found at the scene, and witnesses reported seeing Barreno discard two knives in a garbage can as he fled.
Officials stated that a witness pursued Barreno and detained him for the police in the 500 block of West Tilden, close to the Clinton CTA Blue Line station.
Under the law, Barreno is required to serve 85 percent of the nine-year sentence handed down by Judge Ursula Walowski. He will receive credit for 650 days already served in the Cook County Jail.
Although his CPD arrest report listed a home address in Oakland, California, prosecutors noted that Barreno was carrying a Guatemalan passport.
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