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Authorities have identified the suspect in a stabbing spree that killed four people and injured seven others in Rockford, Ill. on Wednesday.
Christian Soto, 22, was booked into the Winnebago County jail on Thursday at 12:39 a.m. He faces 11 charges of first-degree murder, intent to kill or injure, according to the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. He is also facing two charges of home invasion.
Online records list Soto’s current address as 4704 Upland Dr. in Rockford, which is in the same neighborhood where he allegedly carried out the carnage.
According to the Winnebago County 17th Judicial Circuit Court, Soto has had seven charges against him, mostly for traffic violations. He was criminally charged in September 2022 for property damage, but that case has since been dismissed.
A spokesperson for the Rockford Police Department confirmed late on Wednesday that four people had been killed in the attack, which unfolded just after 1 p.m.
The victims were a 15-year-old girl, a 22-year-old man, a 49-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman.
A total of seven people were also injured in the attack: five in Rockford and two in Winnebago County, just outside the city.
Five of those victims were taken to a local hospital where they were “being treated for serious injuries,” police said Wednesday night.
Local faith leaders are organizing a vigil at 2:30 p.m. as a way to show support to families and friends of the victims of the attack, which Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara called a “random and senseless act of violence.”
“This has been one of the most difficult weeks I have seen in my seven years as Mayor,” he said in a statement. “As a dad, a son, a husband, the Mayor and a Rockford supporter, my heart is breaking for those who have lost their lives, their families and our community.”
Rockford, a city of approximately 150,000 people, is located in northern Illinois, about 90 miles northwest of Chicago.
Soto is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday at 1:30 p.m., local time.
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