Mother of woman charged in 7-year-old girl's stabbing death apologizes to victim's family
Prosecutors outlined new details of the attack.
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A woman charged in the fatal stabbing of a 7-year-old girl in Chicago remained hospitalized Monday and did not appear in court, as prosecutors outlined new details of the attack and her mother said she had spent years trying to get her daughter mental health treatment.
Shavon Gayden is accused of fatally stabbing Eddimar Hernandez on Saturday morning.
The site of the attack has become a gathering place for members of the community supporting Hernandez's family.
"This shouldn't happen to nobody's child. Nobody," said Clifton Boone, who lives nearby.
According to prosecutors, Gayden had just left a store on Cottage Grove Avenue after threatening an employee. The employee told ABC7 Chicago that Gayden appeared upset and was acting erratically after paying a cellphone bill and learning her service would not be restored for another 10 minutes.
Prosecutors said Hernandez and her 17-year-old sister were walking nearby when Gayden allegedly lunged at the older girl, who ducked.
Prosecutors said Gayden then pulled the 7-year-old to the ground and stabbed her. Eddimar was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
After the attack, prosecutors said, Gayden attempted to walk away. Bystanders chased her, and one person struck her, knocking her unconscious. A Chicago police officer said during Monday's hearing that Gayden remains hospitalized with a head injury and was unable to appear in court.
Friends and co-workers of Hernandez's family said they came to the United States seeking a better future.
"You want a better life for your kids, better education, be somebody in life. You know? And coming and losing somebody like that? That's bad," said Santiago Lopez, a co-worker of the victim's mother.
Court records show four prior cases involving Gayden, including two domestic battery cases.
In 2023, she was charged with attacking a bus driver and was sentenced to two years of probation. Her mother says she went to court in that case and shared her concerns with the public defender.
A 2024 case involving two people at a shelter resulted in a probation violation. Court documents show an arrest warrant was issued in February 2025 after she missed court. It's unclear whether it was ever executed.
Speaking by phone with ABC7 Chicago, Gayden's mother, who asked not to be identified, apologized to Hernandez's family and said her daughter had struggled with mental health issues for years.
"I am so sorry. I am so sorry for that family. The little baby didn't deserve it. My daughter was not in her right mind," she said.
Gayden's mother said she watched her daughter's mental health decline for more than a decade and repeatedly tried to get help.
"I'm just so upset, and I just feel like the system let me down, and the system let my daughter down, just because she was grown, and they told me that it wasn't nothing that I could do," she said.
Gayden's detention hearing on a first-degree murder charge is scheduled for Wednesday. She is also due back in court the following day on an alleged probation violation. A judge had previously issued an arrest warrant for Gayden after she failed to appear in court.
On Sunday, family members and community members gathered for a vigil to remember Eddimar. Relatives described her as a happy child who loved drawing, playing with her siblings and waiting by the window for her parents to come home.
Her family remembered a child who dreamed of growing up. At the vigil, her mother pleaded for her daughter not to be forgotten.
