CHICAGO — A 26-year-old woman is facing eight felony charges after police said she randomly attacked women with a bat this week on the Northwest Side.
Denise Solorzano, 26, has been charged with three counts of aggravated battery in a public place, four counts of aggravated battery using a deadly weapon and one count of aggravated assault, police said.
Solorzano attacked at least five women in separate incidents between Sunday and Tuesday, police said when announcing the charges.
On Sunday, Solorzano battered a 19-year-old woman in the 4000 block of West Lawrence Avenue, and she attacked a 33-year-old woman in the 4200 block of North Richmond Street, police said.
At 11:27 a.m. Tuesday, Solorzano attacked two women, 27 and 31, with a baseball bat in the 4500 block of North Mozart Street, police said. Just a few minutes later, she battered a 34-year-old woman with the bat in the 3000 block of West Cullom, police said.
Solorzano was arrested Wednesday and is expected to appear in bond court Thursday.
Earlier this week, police said at least nine women had been attacked by a woman with a bat in separate incidents on the Northwest Side.
One of the women who was attacked Tuesday on Mozart Street told Block Club she was with her sister, pushing her daughter in a stroller, when a woman pulled up in a car nearby.
“This woman pulled over in her car and yelled out the window, ‘What would you do if I came and beat your ass with a with this bat?’” said the mother, who asked that her name not be used. “My sister and I laughed and thought she was joking. And then she got out with this bat that was in the front seat of the car and ran towards us.”
The sisters did not know the driver and were shocked when she ran at them with the bat, the woman said.
A neighbor recorded the attack; when the woman with the bat saw, she ran off, the mother said.
The victims and the neighbor called police, giving officers a partial license plate of the attacker’s car, they said. The neighbor also posted about the attack on a neighborhood Facebook group, she said.
The woman attacked on Richmond Street, who also asked that her name not be used, told Block Club a woman also pulled up in a car near her, got out and randomly attacked her.
“She said, ‘You know? Do you want me to beat your ass?’ or ‘You want me to kick your ass or something?’” The woman said. “And I was obviously like, ‘No, please don’t. Who are you?’ But I mean, by that point she was already laying into me, and 60 seconds later and it was over. So it’s just very, very strange.”