The man accused of massacring four people and wounding others during a brutal attack in Illinois on Wednesday has been charged with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder and home invasion.
Christian Ivan Soto, 22, was booked into the Winnebago County Jail in the early hours of Thursday, about 12 hours after the bloody massacre began.
In total, four people have died, including a 15-year-old girl and a 49-year-old mailman. The other victims were a 22-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman.
Witnesses described Soto as “bloodied” and “resisting arrest” as arresting officers led him away.
During a news conference after the horror, the local police chief said investigators had not discovered a “clear motive” for the bloodshed that occurred about 90 miles west of Chicago.
Police in the area responded to a number of locations at 1:14 pm after receiving calls about a robbery. From there, a chase began and the suspect was arrested nearby at 1:35 p.m.
One victim, who survived, was stabbed in the face while trying to escape the deranged attacker.
A 22-year-old man named Christian Ivan Soto was booked into a local jail in Rockford charged with multiple counts of murder hours after the attack.
A 22-year-old man is in custody in connection with the crime. He has not been identified nor has the motive for the horrific attacks in quiet Rockford, Illinois been made public.
Not all of the victims found at multiple addresses in the city had stab wounds and none were shot.
Police later identified the victims as a 15-year-old girl, a 63-year-old woman, a 49-year-old man and a 22-year-old man. Their names were not revealed
Three of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene and one later died at a local hospital.
Five other people were rushed to local hospitals to receive treatment for their injuries, four were discharged and one person is still being treated in serious condition.
“We are reeling as a community from another senseless act of violence,” Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara told media following the tragedy.
A local, Eric Patterson, told Rockford Registry Star who saw two teenagers bloodied from an attack and a middle-aged woman being taken away in an ambulance.
Patterson said the mail carrier was hit by a pickup truck. Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd previously confirmed that not all of the victims were stabbed, but none were shot.
“We have no clear motive as to what caused this individual to commit such heinous crimes,” the chief added.
Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana told media that one of the victims was stabbed while they were trying to stop the attacker from fleeing the area. That person was not among those killed.
‘The young girl ran away from him. She received a few stab wounds to her hands and face. She is currently in a hospital and is intubated. She is in serious condition,’ she said.
Caruana said another of the victims was a “young girl” who fled a house the attacker broke into.
Rockford has a population of approximately 150,000 and is 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Chicago.
An officer deploys police tape Wednesday as the investigation into the quadruple homicide continues.
Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd told media that investigators “do not have a clear motive” for the horrific crime.
‘Has no sense. It’s almost like playing a video game, but it’s reality. Has no sense. It’s like Grand Theft Auto. “Here I’m going to run over the postman,” said a neighbor.
Vanessa Hy, who lives in the community, described the scene when police arrived in the quiet town.
‘Suddenly we heard the police running on both sides of the house shouting: “Stop! Get down!” “They then ran into the backyard and after a few minutes we saw them carrying the suspect in handcuffs down the driveway and he was very bloody,” Hy told WREX-TV.
‘Has no sense. It’s almost like playing a video game, but it’s reality. Has no sense. It’s like Grand Theft Auto. “I’m going to run over the mailman here,” Patterson said.
‘I’m going to stab a couple of people there. I’m going to enter this house here. Has no sense. “You can’t rationalize this,” he added.
Another resident, Cassandra Hernandez, paid tribute to her mailman by calling him a “very good man.”
Resident Ruth Gallagher called the mailman “the nicest person” in an interview with CBSChicago.
‘He would help anyone; he would step in and help, always kind. We will miss him,’ he added.
‘It’s hard to understand how this could happen and how emotional and raw the community is tonight. “As a father, son, husband, mayor and supporter of Rockford, my heart breaks for those who have lost their lives, their families and our community,” the mayor said in a Facebook post.
Redd said area residents were asked to review footage from their home surveillance cameras for anything related to the attacks.
Rockford has a population of approximately 150,000 and is 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Chicago. Wednesday’s violence came days after a teenage employee at a Walmart in Rockford was stabbed and killed inside the store.