Christian Soto has been identified as the suspect who went on an alleged stabbing spree through a Rockford, Illinois, neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon.
Soto, 22, was arrested approximately 20 minutes after the horrific rampage began on Wednesday afternoon and has been booked into the Winnebago County Jail. He faces 11 counts of murder and attempted murder and two counts of home invasion with a dangerous weapon. He is expected to appear in court on Thursday afternoon for his pretrial release hearing, WQRF Rockford reported.
Police are still uncertain of a motive behind the attack, in which four people were killed and seven injured.
Police have identified the four deceased victims as a 15-year-old girl, a 63-year-old woman, a 49-year-old man and a 22-year-old man. Five other victims were transported to the hospital to be treated for serious injuries, according to a press release from the Rockford Police Department.
"This is a very active and multi-level, multi-agency investigation and has an extensive amount of moving parts," the press release said. "As with any investigation, further details and charges may come at a later date."
Tom McNamara, the mayor of Rockford, wrote on the city's Facebook page that "multiple jurisdictions" were "working on multiple crime scenes to develop an understanding of what transpired in an effort to prevent this from happening again."
Newsweek reached out to the Rockford public information office by email for comment.
Soto lives on Upland Drive, which is near where the stabbings occurred, WQRF Rockford reported.
Soto faced a felony charge of committing criminal damage to a property in September 2022, WQRF Rockford reported, but it was later dismissed. Soto also previously committed a traffic violation of driving 20 mph over the speed limit earlier in March.
Newsweek reached out to Cruz through Facebook for comment.
The U.S. Postal Service has confirmed that one of its mail carriers is among the deceased.
The stabbing spree comes only days after another knife attack occurred at a Walmart in the city, resulting in the death of an 18-year-old employee. Timothy Carter, 28, of Rockford, was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the man's death.
In a statement to Newsweek at the time, a Walmart spokesperson said: "We're devastated to learn that one of our associates has died following a violent attack inside our Rockford, IL, store. We offer our heartfelt condolences to his family and will continue providing our associates with the support they need."
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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