Three teenagers were charged in relation to the deadly stabbing and robbery of an unhoused man this weekend in the Loop.
Wuinayker Rodriguez-Vasquez, a 16-year-old boy from Venezuela and the only defendant charged as an adult, was identified by his mother and an associate after he was taken into custody hours after the Sunday morning slaying, prosecutors said.
Rodriguez-Vasquez was charged with first-degree murder and mob action and ordered held during his first court hearing on Tuesday, records show. His alleged accomplices, two 14-year-old boys, were charged in juvenile court with murder and robbery, respectively.
Rodriguez-Vasquez, the two boys and other associates were walking in the 200 block of South Wabash Avenue around 5:45 a.m. when they approached the 49-year-old victim as he was laying in an alcove with his cat and other belongings. Rodriguez-Vazquez was armed with a knife up his sleeve, and one of the other boys had a metal rod, prosecutors said.
The attack started when one of the 14-year-olds ran off with the man’s skeleton mask and Rodriguez-Vasquez kicked him from behind, prosecutors said. Rodriguez-Vasquez “then stabbed down with his right hand towards” the man, and the other boy hit him with the rod.
The two teenagers fled south on Wabash after the attack and joined the rest of their group, prosecutors said. They all rode a southbound Red Line train from the Monroe stop to the Cermak station, where they hopped on a bus.
A witness passing the scene of the stabbing found the man’s body, prosecutors said.
He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died from a stab wound to the back, according to prosecutors and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled a homicide. He hasn’t yet been identified.
Rodriguez-Vasquez and his accomplices were arrested around 4 p.m. that day in the 2000 block of South Western Avenue, after video surveillance showed “multiple males matching the clothing description of the offenders.” Rodriguez-Vasquez was found with a knife, court records show.
His mother and an accomplice identified him from stills taken from surveillance footage before and after the killing, prosecutors said. The photos showed him “displaying a knife to the group, making stabbing motions, and wearing the victim’s skeleton mask on his head.”
Rodriguez-Vasquez had no prior arrests in Illinois, but he had contact with law enforcement in Texas in 2023. Prosecutors said the encounter was related to an “alien inadmissibility” case.
He remains held at Cook County Jail awaiting a Dec. 16 court appearance.