Man sentenced to 9 years for random stabbing of woman, 71, outside Union Station
Man Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for Brutal Knife Attack on Elderly Woman
A shocking incident occurred in June 2024 when a 71-year-old woman was brutally attacked by a man wielding a knife while she was walking her dog near Union Station in the South Loop area. The assailant, Wilson Barreno, 27, has since pleaded guilty to attempted murder and has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his heinous crime.
According to prosecutors, Barreno approached the woman on the 200 block of South Clinton Street, where he viciously attacked her by hooking his left arm around her neck and repeatedly stabbing her on the right side of her body and neck with his right hand. The victim sustained seven stab wounds, with each wound ranging between two and four centimeters deep. Two of the victim’s arteries were punctured, and one of her kidneys narrowly escaped being hit. The woman suffered two stab wounds to the neck, two to the shoulder, and three to the back, as detailed in a Chicago Police Department report.
At the scene of the crime, a box cutter was found, and witnesses reported seeing Barreno discard two knives into a nearby garbage can as he fled the area. Fortunately, a brave witness chased Barreno and managed to apprehend him in the 500 block of West Tilden, close to the Clinton CTA Blue Line station, before law enforcement arrived.
Following his guilty plea, Barreno was sentenced by Judge Ursula Walowski to nine years in prison, of which he must serve at least 85 percent before being eligible for parole. He will be credited for the 650 days he has already spent in the Cook County Jail awaiting trial.
Despite listing an address in Oakland, California, on his arrest report, prosecutors revealed that Barreno was in possession of a Guatemalan passport at the time of his arrest.
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