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T-Ball Coaches Stabbed in Front of Kids by Jealous Father, Prosecutors Say

By Erin Meyer | July 18, 2013 6:25am
 Emmanuel Hernandez, 27, of the 3000 block of South Tripp Street, is charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery in the stabbing of two men in a park full of kids after a T-ball game in Hoyne Park (pictured).
Emmanuel Hernandez, 27, of the 3000 block of South Tripp Street, is charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery in the stabbing of two men in a park full of kids after a T-ball game in Hoyne Park (pictured).
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Cook County Sheriff's Office

McKINLEY PARK — A T-ball coach was stabbed in the neck just after a youth baseball game in Hoyne Park on Sunday, allegedly by a young ballplayer's jealous father looking for his ex's new boyfriend.

The coach suffered a severed artery and was listed in critical condition after surgery. Although the T-ball game had just ended, there were still players present during the attack, according to a person familiar with the incident.

Other children were arriving for the next game.

Prosecutors said Emmanuel Hernandez, 27, was holding a knife when he showed up at Hoyne Park to confront his ex and her new boyfriend, the coach of their 4-year-old son's T-ball team, prosecutors said.

Hernandez approached his ex and began yelling. When another coach tried to stop him, Hernandez assumed he was the coach dating his ex and attacked him, severing an artery, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Heather Kent.

Hernandez, "thinking he was the T-ball coach, stabbed [him] in the neck," Kent said. "He began bleeding profusely."

Another coach, the one dating Hernandez's ex, tackled him. That coach was stabbed in the head during the scuffle, Kent said.

Hernandez ran from the park, but police found him Monday morning in the 2500 block of North Kilbourn Street, authorities said.

Hernandez was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and domestic battery and ordered held on $2 million bail this week.

The children in the park the day of the attack play on the Omega Delta Youth Baseball League at Hoyne Park.

A volunteer with the Hoyne Park Advisory Council sent an email to families Monday stating that the attack was an isolated incident and that park remains a "safe and family-friendly environment."