A 61-year-old Chicago woman is reportedly brain dead and may not live after she was beaten during a robbery on a train, prosecutors say.
The suspect in the case is an eight-time felon who is on parole for a separate robbery involving a police officer, CWB Chicago reported Wednesday.
“Judge William Fahy granted the state’s petition to detain Mijawon Johnson, 36, as a public safety threat during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse. State officials have also moved to revoke his parole,” the outlet said.
An image shows the suspect in the case:
Johnson was apparently caught on surveillance footage allegedly trying to swipe the woman’s bag as she rode the Red Line train on January 4.
He is accused of repeatedly hitting her in the head and stomach and stomping on her body before leaving the train.
After she was found unresponsive, the victim was put on a ventilator. Prosecutors say she is brain-dead and not expected to live very long.
Video footage shows crews near an ambulance outside the Red Line station where the incident occurred:
The suspect was identified, and police officers found him and took him into custody once they spotted him riding a Chicago Transit Authority bus.
He now faces charges of attempted murder along with two counts of aggravated battery in the case.
The CWB Chicago report noted that “Prosecutors also charged him with violating an order of protection for allegedly entering a 27-year-old Old Town woman’s residence on New Year’s Eve after being ordered to stay away.”
The suspect’s parole came in August after he served a portion of time for robbing a covert narcotics officer in 2021. At the time, he was on parole for aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer.
Illinois Department of Corrections records report that the suspect was given prison sentences numerous times for narcotics over the course of several years, per the CWB Chicago article.
Social media users commented on the report, one person writing, “You get what you vote for Chicago!!!”
“Shocking that an 8x felon would continue to commit crime,” another user stated.
In December, progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson claimed homicides and shootings had gone down in the city and that money “for restoration and reparations” would help address the “cycle of violence” plaguing the city’s residents, according to Breitbart News.
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