No charges to be filed in Palatine stabbing death
Authorities have declined to file charges in connection with Thursday's fight in Palatine over a girl that led to the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old man.
Eduardo Garcia, of the 4700 block of Arbor Drive in Rolling Meadows, died after a confrontation with a 15-year-old male, Palatine police said. The altercation took place around 6:15 p.m. on the 1900 block of Green Lane.
The Cook County state's attorney's office won't file charges, as the 15-year-old who stabbed Garcia was severely beaten before Garcia was stabbed, authorities said. The teen declined hospital treatment.
"It was determined Mr. Garcia was the aggressor in the physical confrontation and the 15-year-old-male juvenile stabbed Mr. Garcia in an act of self-defense," a police statement read.
Friends and family gathered on Friday inside Garcia's Rolling Meadows apartment. Many of them were in tears over the death of Garcia, who they called Eddy. They said they were angry and in disbelief that no charges would be filed in the case.
Garcia was a senior at Fremd High School in Palatine, having transferred earlier in the year, said Fremd Principal Lisa Small. Garcia had also attended Hersey High School in Arlington Heights.
"He was considered as a positive, outgoing student in the classroom," Small said.
While Garcia attended Fremd for less than a year, Small said he made the best of his time there playing on the school's junior varsity soccer team.
Fremd is on spring break this week and Small said the school would have counselors available to students when classes resume next week.
Police found Garcia wounded at a parking lot on the 1600 block of Baldwin Road in Palatine near where the fight broke out. Police said Garcia's friend drove him there and called 911.
Paramedics took him to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he died at about 7 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Police from Palatine and the Major Case Assistance Team worked on the investigation.