$5 million bail in Gurnee fatal stabbing inside car
A Waukegan man is held in Lake County jail on a $5 million bond after being charged with first-degree murder Friday for, authorities allege, stabbing one man to death and wounding another in a bizarre attack in a moving car in Gurnee.
Zervant Thomas, 18, was also charged with attempted murder after the Thursday afternoon attacks that ended in front of the Anthony Auto Group on Grand Avenue in Gurnee, authorities said.
Lake County Deputy State's Attorney Jeff Pavletic said Thomas fatally stabbed Stefan Metel, 33, also of Waukegan, and wounded Arturo Antomez, 17, of Round Lake Beach.
Metel died at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville after being stabbed by Thomas five times in the face and neck, Pavletic said.
Antomez, who was in the front passenger's seat of the car Metel was driving, was stabbed near the left eye and the hand, Pavletic said.
Thomas told investigators from the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force that Metel was an acquaintance who had agreed to give him a ride to his girlfriend's house in Round Lake, Pavletic said.
Thomas was sitting behind Metel and Antomez in the car's back seat as the three drove on Grand Avenue about 1:16 p.m., Pavletic said.
“Mr. Antomez announced that they were going to have to stop at his house in Round Lake Beach to pick up some gas money,” Paveltic told Associate Judge Raymond Collins during a Friday bond hearing in Lake County circuit court. “In his statement to police, the defendant said that he took this as a sign that he was going to be attacked, became enraged and stabbed Mr. Metel multiple times before turning the knife on Mr. Antomez.”
During the attack, investigators said, Antomez jumped from the car while it was still moving.
Both Metel and Thomas ran into service bays at the Anthony Auto Group, where Metel collapsed, Pavletic said. There, mechanics called police, and held Thomas until officers arrived. Thomas is due back in court Aug. 31.
Officials said Thomas also has a pending robbery case against him in court, but details of the case are unknown at this time.