Man Facing Hate Crime and Battery Charges After Attacking Women in Chicago’s Loop
A 36-year-old man with a history of unprovoked attacks on women in Chicago’s downtown neighborhoods is facing hate crime and battery charges after prosecutors said he attacked three women within blocks of each other on a single evening last week.
Edwin Barron, known as one of the accused “Loop punchers,” was ordered detained as a safety threat by Judge Antara Rivera following his arrest in connection with the March 5 attacks in the Loop.
According to prosecutors, at approximately 7:50 p.m., two Hispanic women, ages 21 and 24, were standing near the Washington-Wabash L station in the first block of East Madison Street when Barron approached and began yelling at them. He allegedly grabbed one of the women by the neck so aggressively that she heard her neck crack and felt pain.
Barron then moved east to the 100 block of South Michigan Avenue, where he encountered a 24-year-old Black woman, prosecutors alleged. That woman told police Barron had been screaming a racial slur at people on the street, then fixed his attention on her, charged at her, and repeatedly shouted the slur while threatening her before striking her hard on the arm. She fought back, throwing a water bottle and soda at him, prosecutors said. Barron allegedly chased her into the street before Chicago police officers arrested him nearby.
He is charged with one count of hate crime and three counts of aggravated battery in a public place.
It is not the first time Barron has faced allegations of randomly attacking women in the area. Court records show he was arrested in April 2025 in the 100 block of North Wabash after a 35-year-old woman reported he randomly struck her in the face with his forearm as she was walking home from her job at Macy’s. The blow knocked her to the ground, she said. But when she got up, she meted out a little justice by scratching his face and using a Taser on him, a CPD report said.
Officers noted the woman had swollen lips and a bloody nose. Barron was charged with misdemeanor battery in that case, but prosecutors dropped the charge two months later.
In September 2023, Barrone was arrested near Navy Pier after allegedly punching a 41-year-old woman in the face twice while she was walking. A CPD report described the attack as “completely at random and unprovoked.” He pleaded guilty and completed six months of court supervision.
Beyond the attacks on women, court records show he was arrested for shoplifting in October and December of last year and again in January.
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