A Lake County Sheriff’s Department officer arrested a 26-year-old Honduran man on Sunday afternoon in a cornfield near Crown Point — a day after the man allegedly stabbed a teen girl in the hand in unincorporated Lowell on Saturday in what police are calling “a random attack.”
Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said the suspect had been spotted in southern Lake County earlier in the day, according to a release, when the officer spotted him running through a cornfield near 120th Avenue and Iowa Street and detained him. Police believe the man was trying to cut his hair in order to change his appearance just prior to the arrest. Martinez said the man was deported to Honduras in 2018 but re-entered the United States illegally at some point. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been notified that he is in custody at the Lake County Jail.
The Post-Tribune is not naming the suspect as he has not been formally charged.
“I would like to extend my most heartfelt gratitude to each and every Lake County police officer and to all law enforcement agencies working tirelessly on the investigation and search in this case. I am proud of the level of cooperation exhibited by police officers throughout the county. I would also like to thank the public for sharing information in a responsible manner and for assisting us with good tips the officers could use,” Martinez said.
On Saturday, the victim, a 14-year-old girl, was watching her brother’s baseball game at the VFW baseball field in unincorporated Lowell with her mother, Martinez said in a release.
Sometime around 3:45 p.m. Saturday, an unknown male attacked the victim, attempting to stab her with a knife at the ball field at 17401 Morse Street. When the mother tried to help her daughter, the suspect also tried to stab the mom.
A male subject was chased into the woods near that location. He was last seen in a wooded area behind homes on the 6100 block of Oak Valley Drive in Lowell.
“At this point, it appears that this was a random attack,” Martinez said.
The victim was treated and released from an area hospital.
Police recovered a butcher-style knife believed to have been used by the suspect.
