Man stabbed to death protecting teen, her mom in grocery store attack, Illinois cops say
A man was killed Friday after he intervened when a grocery store customer attacked a juvenile girl and her mother, Illinois police say.
Police in Berwyn, a suburb of Chicago, are calling 32-year-old Humberto Guzman “a true hero” for stepping in to protect the 14-year-old girl and her mom.
The girl went to Valle’s Produce to visit her mother, who works as a cashier at the store. She walked to her mom’s checkout lane and asked about the price of an item, when a customer accused her of cutting in line.
She told the man, later identified as Fernando Barrios, she was not cutting, but he became argumentative and then physical with the 14-year-old.
“The male then attacked the young girl, punching her several times in the face area,” police say. “The cashier came out from behind the checkout counter and attempted to protect her daughter when the alleged suspect struck the mother in the left ear and head area.”
Guzman got in the middle of the attack to protect the girl and her mother. Barrios began walking toward the exit before returning and approaching Guzman.
Barrios removed a knife from his pocket and stabbed Guzman several times in the chest and torso, according to police. The suspect then fled the store as a cashier and other individuals chased after him.
A second good Samaritan, identified by police as Kevin Landau, was stabbed as he tried to stop Barrios, officers said. He suffered a non-life threatening injury.
Guzman was pronounced dead at little over an hour after the attack at an area hospital.
“This is a tragic incident in which a good Samaritan, a true hero, placed himself into danger in an effort to protect a teenage child and her mother,” police said.
Barrios, 30, was caught by officers a couple blocks away from the store. He was charged with murder and attempted murder and is being held in jail without bond, CBS Chicago reported.
Barrios said during his court appearance Saturday “he had no choice” in stabbing the men, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
“I believe I was being attacked by the male employees,” he told the judge, the newspaper reported.
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