COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A man carrying a butcher knife kicked down a stranger's front door early Thursday — and then turned around and left, prosecutors said.
It happened after midnight Thursday in the 1400 block of South Western Avenue near Douglas Park.
A 39-year-old woman who lives alone was home watching TV when she heard someone trying to enter her apartment, Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti said during a bond hearing Friday.
The woman assumed it was a relative or friend, prosecutors said. But before long, 25-year-old Saul Garcia allegedly began trying to kick in the woman's front door.
The victim had never met Garcia and did not know him, Antonietti said.
According to prosecutors, Garcia was spotted stumbling around the woman's property and urinating outside before the attack.
As the woman screamed, Garcia continued to kick her door, allegedly yelling, "Who the f--- are you, b----?" Antonietti said. The door frame eventually cracked, and the victim could see Garcia standing in her doorway with a butcher knife, prosecutors said.
Garcia then ran off, and the woman made a "hysterical" call to 911, according to an arrest report. Prosecutors did not provide a motive for the break-in.
Officers who'd been given a description of Garcia spotted him a block over, in the 1300 block of South Western Avenue, where they arrested him about 1:50 a.m., court records show.
Police found a butcher knife in Garcia's backpack, Antonietti said.
Garcia, of the 3100 block of South Avers Avenue, is on conditional discharge for DUI and driving on a revoked license, prosecutors said.
According to his public defender, Garcia has one child, is in college and works as a dishwasher at Lagunitas Brewing Company.
Garcia is charged with home invasion using armed force.
Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan ordered him held in lieu of $300,000 bail.
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