Neighbors React to Slain Baby: ‘I’ve Never Seen This in All My Life’

Neighbors said they were in shock Thursday afternoon in the wake of a baby being found dead in a Lincoln Square hotel.

The infant boy was stabbed in what police believe was a murder-suicide attempt at the Diplomat Hotel, 5230 N. Lincoln Ave. The boy’s mother was found alive in the hotel and was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, ABC 7 Chicago reports.
 
More than 10 police officers, a crime scene unit and several news vans remained on the scene in the usually quiet neighborhood shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday.

Among concerned residents was Diane Gans, who was found outside the Dominick’s grocery store across the street from the crime scene.

“I’ve never seen this in all my life,” she said.

Gans has called the area home for most of her 61 years, she said, and currently lives about five minutes away from the hotel near Winnemac Park.

“This is the first time I've known someone to be killing someone else in a motel here, it’s scary,” she said.

Join Patch for more neighborhood news and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Cars slowed by the area; some drivers stopping to ask onlookers what had happened. When they learned of the alleged homicide, their eyes widened.

“You just don’t believe it,” said Charlotte Henson, who lives nearby on Summerdale Avenue. “Weird things happen in those hotels, but never something like this.”

The Diplomat Hotel is the first on a stretch of five motels along Lincoln Avenue that are known for suspicious activity, one neighbor said.

"These hotels, it's not out-of-towners from Wisconsin that are coming here and wanting to stay, if you know what I mean," said the local resident, who wished to remain anonymous.

Drugs, prostitution and homeless activity is rampant, he said, even with the Chicago Police Department’s 20th District headquarters in the middle of the motels at 5400 N. Lincoln Ave.

Police had not yet identified the victims as of 5 p.m. Thursday, when the case remained under investigation.