Chicago Nurse Accused of Stabbing 4 People While Out on Bail…for Stabbing
Alleged victims were dining with their grandchildren at a McDonald's.
A nurse in Chicago has been accused of randomly stabbing four people after being released on bail for randomly stabbing a woman last summer. CWB Chicago reported this week that Shaynella Williams was arrested for stabbing four people at random on the city's northwest side.
Prosecutors say two of the alleged victims were eating with their grandchildren at a McDonald's when Williams stabbed them. Read on to find out more about the story, including what happened last summer and what authorities are saying about the bizarre repeat offense.
Last summer, prosecutors charged Williams with slashing a woman who was walking home from the beach in the Bucktown neighborhood on June 18. The victim told police Williams parked a red Kia across the street from her, followed her, then bumped into her while making a swiping motion before returning to her car and driving away without saying a word.
A witness called 911 for the victim, who received 13 stitches for a slash wound on her arm, CWB Chicago reported. Police arrested Williams after tracking the car's license plate number. She paid a $2,000 bail deposit to await trial outside of jail. That case is still pending.
But on Monday, Williams was back in court facing five new felony battery charges. They're connected to a series of alleged attacks on Jan. 8. In one case, two senior citizens were eating lunch with their four grandchildren at a McDonald's when Williams pulled into the parking lot, prosecutor Sarah Dale-Schmidt said. Williams allegedly walked into the restaurant, plunged a knife into one of the grandparents' backs, then stabbed the other grandparent on the top of the head, CWB Chicago reported.
Customers took pictures of Williams as she left the scene in her red Kia. Police later traced her cell phone to the area at the time of the attack, the prosecutor said. But just 20 minutes later, Williams allegedly pulled over and stabbed a woman in the leg as the woman was carrying a large plant down the street.
The victim told police Williams used a knife with an ivory handle and a blade about three inches long. Doctors closed the woman's wound with three staples, CWB Chicago reported.
Shortly after that attack, Williams parked next to a woman on a nearby sidewalk and stabbed her in the back. She then got back into her Kia and drove away. Chicago police arrested Williams last Saturday, noting she had an ivory-handled knife with a three- or four-inch blade in her possession.
Williams' court-appointed attorney said she is a licensed practical nurse who works part-time in that field. Williams lives with her mother and two children, ages 14 and 17, CWB Chicago reported. Prosecutors have charged her with two counts of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm to victims over the age of 60 and three counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Judge Kelly McCarthy, the same judge who set bail for Williams last year, ordered her latest bail set at $20,000. If Williams is released, she must be electronically monitored, the judge declared. But for the time being, Williams is being held without bail until the judge who oversaw her previous stabbing case reviews the latest allegations.
