Girl held in Schaumburg hammer attack getting mental tests

The 15-year-old Schaumburg girl accused of putting her neighbor in a coma by attacking him with a hammer March 29 has been hospitalized for a mental health evaluation.

"She seems to be showing signs of instability in custody," Assistant Cook County Public Defender Jim Martin said today.

The girl already was on suicide watch last month after threatening to kill herself and inflicting minor injuries on herself.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, are continuing to request a transfer of the girl's case from juvenile to adult court. She is charged with attempted murder, armed robbery and aggravated battery.

Investigators believe that after she beat 58-year-old Rajesh Thakkar inside an apartment building in the 100 block of Pickwick Drive, the girl tried to drag him to a man-made pond behind the building.

At the time, the girl already had a charge of vehicular hijacking on her record, Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Adrienne Lund said.

The girl's 18-year-old sister, Latifa Johnson, is facing a charge of obstruction of justice in the March 29 incident. Authorities believe Johnson played no part in the attack, but accuse her of trying to cover up the crime by cleaning up blood from the apartment building's foyer before police and paramedics arrived.

Johnson's next court date is June 23. Her sister's is June 15.

Thakkar has been upgraded to good condition at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he is recovering from emergency surgeries to his brain and eye.

Although conscious, he speaks only sparingly and still doesn't fully respond to visitors, family members say.