State and federal prosecutors have charged a Chicago man with attacking three girls inside hours on Tuesday, one every in Lakeview and two within the Loop.
Joshua Rowell, 36, has been convicted of “a number of felonies for home battery,” a Cook dinner County prosecutor mentioned throughout a detention listening to on Thursday.
Tuesday’s first assault concerned a lady strolling her canine close to her house within the 600 block of West Waveland. The sufferer instructed police she noticed Rowell strolling towards her, so she stepped into the grass to present him room to cross by.
Rowell abruptly punched her within the head together with his fist, inflicting her to drop her canine’s leash and fall to the bottom, prosecutors mentioned in a detention petition. Because the sufferer tried to protect her face together with her arms, Rowell allegedly continued to strike her a number of instances within the head and face, with video proof displaying not less than 9 blows whereas she was down.
The sufferer screamed for assist, drawing the eye of two witnesses who noticed Rowell attacking the girl whereas she was down, prosecutors mentioned. He fled the scene after yelling at one witness that she would “be subsequent,” in line with the petition.
One of many witnesses instructed police that the sufferer was bleeding so profusely, she thought the girl had been stabbed. EMS transported the sufferer to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Heart, the place she obtained stitches underneath her eye and was handled for a displaced proper nasal bone fracture. Detectives circulated a “looking for to establish” alert throughout the division.
Then, shortly earlier than 4 p.m., a federal court docket regulation clerk was attacked as she stood exterior the Dirksen Federal Constructing within the Loop. In accordance with a federal felony criticism, Rowell approached the sufferer from behind and punched her within the left aspect of her face, inflicting her to stumble into Jackson Boulevard. The sufferer, who was working in her official capability, suffered a concussion and was handled at a neighborhood hospital.
About 20 minutes later, a 20-year-old lady instructed Chicago police {that a} man punched her within the face as she walked within the 900 block of South Wabash. She was handled at Perception Hospital.
Patrol officers stopped Rowell close to the Roosevelt CTA station as a result of he matched the outline supplied by the third sufferer, a CPD report mentioned. Investigators shortly linked him to the Lakeview case by way of the “looking for to establish” bulletin.
Cook dinner County prosecutors charged him with aggravated battery inflicting nice bodily hurt, aggravated battery in a public place, and, as a result of he was allegedly carrying a single 9mm bullet, possession of ammunition.
Federal prosecutors charged him with assault of a federal worker.
Court docket data present he obtained two 5-year sentences for home battery in 2021. His earlier felony convictions embrace possessing a managed substance in 2018 and possessing a stolen motorized vehicle in 2014, in line with court docket information.
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