LAKEVIEW — A 24-year-old woman has been charged with stabbing three people during an argument late Sunday in Lakeview as crowds celebrated after Chicago’s LGBTQ Pride Parade, police said.
Lakendra Porter has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of battery causing bodily harm and one misdemeanor count of reckless conduct, police said.
Porter was arrested just before 11:30 p.m. Sunday in the 900 block of West Belmont Avenue after she got in an argument with two women and a man that escalated into violence, police said. Porter took out a knife and began swinging it at the other three people, police said.
A 28-year-old woman was stabbed in her chest, arm and back and was hospitalized in serious condition, police said. A 20-year-old man was in fair condition with a stab wound in his back, and a 35-year-old woman was stabbed in her buttocks and was in good condition.
The three were taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, police said.
Porter was also taken to Illinois Masonic with a laceration to her face, police said. She was in fair condition.
Porter tried to run away but was arrested, police said. She’s expected to appear in court Aug. 8.
The fight was among a number of disturbances that arose during the post-parade revelry.
About 1:30 a.m. Monday, three people were shot in the 3100 block of North Clark Street, police said.
Two men and a woman were outside when someone fired shots at them, police said. One of the men, 30, was hit in his knee and taken in good condition to Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
The second man, 37, was shot in his leg and taken in good condition to Northwestern Hospital, police said. The woman, 46, was shot in her abdomen and taken in critical condition to Illinois Masonic Hospital.
Persons of interest were being questioned in relation to the shooting, but they were released without charges by Wednesday morning, police said. The investigation is ongoing.
Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who said last week he was “deeply concerned” about the Police Department’s post-parade plans, said officers responded “amazingly well” to the mayhem.
“Unfortunately, there were a couple incidents, but given the length of time and the amount of people, I think police did a good job,” Tunney said.
Tunney sent a letter to Supt. David Brown on Tuesday to ask for more police resources along the parade route throughout the weekend.
Northalsted has already seen “large, sometimes rowdy” crowds at night recently, Tunney wrote. He said he was “very troubled” by a large fight outside the bars early June 20, hours after Pride Fest ended.
“I put out a clarion call last week for more resources post-parade, meaning from 7 in the evening until 3 or 4 in the morning, and the police did respond amazingly well in terms of show of force [and] trying to keep the crowds relatively safe and in order,” Tunney said.
The Police Department had 10-15 officers stationed at almost every corner in Tunney’s ward, he said. But some of the issues arose around 10-11 p.m., when officers were changing shifts, he said.
“We found a lot of resources were dwindling, and the large crowds were still staying and getting louder,” Tunney said. “We were very concerned about [them] taking over the streets and the safety of our neighborhood, but I think police did a very good job, so I have nothing but compliments for our Police Department.”
Jake Wittich is a Report for America corps member covering Lakeview, Lincoln Park and LGBTQ communities across the city for Block Club Chicago.