An Illinois woman killed a fellow panhandler while they fought over turf along a Chicago expressway last Friday.
26-year-old Mary Normand and 47-year-old Eriberto Hernandez had “ongoing issues” about panhandling on the southbound Edens Expressway exit ramp at Wilson Avenue, Assistant State’s Attorney Danny Hanichak said during a bail hearing on Monday afternoon.
At 2:45 p.m. on Friday, Normand accused Hernandez of panhandling in her territory. The disagreement quickly turned physical.
Normand repeatedly struck Hernandez with a 3-foot-long metal stake and then pushed him under a moving box truck, Hanichak said.
After Hernandez was run over by the truck, Normand continued to repeatedly beat him with the stake while he cried for help and attempted to defend himself with his hands.
Hernandez was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, he did not survive the assault. The Cook County medical examiner ruled the death as a homicide.
Despite panhandling in the same area as Hernandez, Normand is not homeless, Assistant Public Defender Jennifer Hodel said. Normand lives with her fiancé and has been working at real estate company for the last three years, Hodel said.
Normand ran away from the scene but returned almost five hours later and was arrested.
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