A mother was killed and her two young sons were injured in a horrific attack in Chicago’s Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. NBC Chicago’s Randy Gyllenhaal reports.
An 8-year-old boy who was at the center of an Amber Alert and his 11-year-old brother received help from strangers after both were injured in a stabbing on Thursday night in Chicago's Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.
Cynthia Keel, who provided aid to one of the boys, told NBC Chicago she was sitting at home inside her kitchen - when she suddenly heard a "boom."
"The next thing I hear is running up the stairs and 'bam bam bam bam,' 'Help me, help me,’” she recounted.
The 11-year-old was begging for help.
Keel and another neighbor helped the boy, called 911 and stayed with him until paramedics arrived.
"He said his stepfather stabbed him, and then when I found out he was 11, it made it even more horrific," she stated.
The boy and his younger brother were stabbed during a several hours-long ordeal in which their mother was killed by her boyfriend. Relatives of their mother, Teone Jones, said she was stabbed by her boyfriend while cooking dinner at around 7 p.m. inside her Greater Grand Crossing home.
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Around an hour later, the 11-year-old was found injured a mile away near West 66th Street and South Wentworth Avenue.
An Amber Alert was issued for Jones' 8-year-old son, who disappeared following the attack. The young boy, who was captured on surveillance video asking strangers for help, was found wandering near a gas station early Friday morning near West 82nd Street and South Damen Avenue.
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As of Friday evening, both children were in the hospital, fighting to survive.
The suspect in the stabbings, 39-year-old Marcus Bausley, fled to northwest Indiana, where he tripped a license plate reader while driving the same vehicle from the Amber Alert, authorities said.
At around 9:40 a.m., Bausley's SUV was located near U.S. Route 30 and Interstate 65 in Lake County, where it "became engaged in a pursuit," officials said.
As a helicopter tracked the vehicle from the air, Bausley continued southbound on the interstate until officers used an "immobilization technique" to box the vehicle in and bring it to a stop, according to law enforcement.
Police ordered the suspect to exit the vehicle, but he refused and put a knife to his neck. He was later placed into custody and transported to an area hospital for a "superficial wound to the neck," authorities said.
Bausley remained hospitalized on Friday night. Lake County, Indiana, authorities said they intended to file charges for resisting law enforcement. Bausley is also expected to be extradited to Chicago once charges are filed regarding the crimes allegedly committed in Illinois, police said.
As the family waits for updates on the boys, they are grateful for those who offered to help the kids during their darkest hours.
"There are good people in the world, so glad the angels of the Lord were with them," Keel said. "I’m grateful for that. This could have gone a whole other way.”
