A Chicago man accused of stabbing a stranger on Christmas was released by a judge — then missed his court date for attempted murder while he was allegedly busy stabbing another random woman.
Allen Erenburg was set to be in court Wednesday after a grand jury charged him with seven felonies for the December 25 incident during which he allegedly knocked a man off his bicycle, “struck the man in the head with a hammer and stabbed him repeatedly with a knife,” CWBChicago reports.
Instead of going to court, the 44-year-old was back on the street stabbing a woman and threatening her boyfriend with a hammer, prosecutors say.
Erenburg was caught in the first place not after he allegedly attempted to kill the man on the bike, but five days after that attack when he was arrested in a separate incident in Roscoe Village, according to the outlet.
“A 49-year-old woman reported that she was sitting in her car in the 2300 block of West Belmont when a man started shouting at her, then pulled out a knife and slashed one of her tires,” the publication stated, citing a Chicago Police Department (CPD) report.
Erenburg then allegedly broke the woman’s rear window and fled, but CPD was able to find and arrest him just minutes later when the victim identified him as the perpetrator.
The man was charged with misdemeanor criminal damage to property, and Judge William Fahy released him the next day.
According to court records obtained by CWBChicago, the grand jury charged Erenburg with one count of attempted murder and six counts of aggravated battery on January 17, “but he was never arrested to face the charges and failed to show up for his arraignment on January 31.”
The outlet went on to detail the discombobulated events that led to Erenburg being free to allegedly commit more violent crimes:
The judge rescheduled the hearing for February 14 and instructed the clerk of court to send Erenburg a postcard with the new date.
There is conflicting information about which judge issued the postcard order, but their handwritten notes say Erenburg was never notified of the January 31 date because he was in custody for a misdemeanor when the indictment came down. We could not locate any court law enforcement records showing Erenburg was in custody at that time.
Erenburg didn’t show up for the rescheduled hearing, either.
Erenburg then allegedly committed a second holiday attack — this time around 11:00 a.m. on Valentine’s Day, two hours after he was set to be in court.
When a couple walked past him at a bus stop in the 2800 block of West Diversey, prosecutors allege that Erenburg took the 28-year-old man’s skateboard, prompting him to snatch it back.
Erenburg escalated the situation by allegedly pulling out a hammer and a knife, miming a stabbing action at the woman, 25, but, instead, cutting her purse.
The woman then threw a cup at the perpetrator, prompting him to stab her, prosecutors said in a detention petition obtained by CWBChicago.
“The blade entered her chest and punctured her right lung,” the outlet reported. “Both victims ran to a gas station and called 911.”
CPD officers said they stopped Erenburg nearby, finding “several knives” in his possession. Investigators later found surveillance footage showing Erenburg disposing of a hammer in a trash can, prompting a search that recovered the hammer, as well as three more knives, from the bin.
The arrest report stated that Erenburg is affiliated with the Insane Deuces street gang.
Prosecutors then hit him with attempted first-degree murder, attempted armed robbery, attempted robbery, and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.
Finally detained at the state’s request, Erenburg was taken to court Friday to face the December attempted murder case as well.
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