Man stabs 3 people inside Wrightwood McDonald's after demanding free food, Chicago police say
ABC7 cameras were there when officers arrested a person of interest just hours after the attack.
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Police said they are interviewing a person of interest after a man stabbed three people inside a McDonald's restaurant on Chicago's Southwest Side on Sunday morning.
ABC7 cameras were there when officers arrested that person across the street from the McDonald's just hours after the attack.
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A 911 call came in from the fast-food restaurant along Western Avenue and 79th Street just before 8:30 a.m.
When first responders arrived, they found three people - two 45-year-old women and an 18-year-old man - with stab wounds inflicted by someone who, police said, lashed out after a cashier turned down his demand for free food.
Boe Cannon is a regular customer at the McDonald's.
"Yeah, I saw the ax. He had it right here inside his pants,"
Cannon said he was across the street when the hatchet-wielding man approached him just minutes before the attack.
"He asked me for a dollar for some coffee. I gave him a dollar, and I gave him a Newport. He had the ax on. But I didn't know what he was going to do. Next thing I know, I see people running out of McDonald's, hollering. Then, he was walking down the street with the ax, eating a cookie. That's what I saw," Cannon said.
But that was not the end of it.
Police did not make any arrests in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing. But no more than an hour after officers finished their interviews with employees and cleared the crime scene, squad cars came rushing back up Western Avenue following reports that the alleged stabber - seen in a red jacket - was hanging out at the CTA bus terminal across the street from McDonald's.
Officers quickly arrested the man and took him away. ABC7 has blurred his face because no charges have been announced.
"This is messed up. They don't mess with anybody. We go to that McDonald's every day. You know what I'm saying? They're all cool people in there," Cannon said.
It is not clear whether all three of those injured are McDonald's employees or not. At least one of the three people is in serious condition at Christ Hospital.
ABC7 reached out to McDonald's for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Check back with ABC7 for a live report on this story at 5 p.m.
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