Man breaks hip while stabbing wife, police say

A 66-year-old Grayslake man is in the hospital and facing criminal charges after police say he broke his hip while stabbing his wife.

Albert A. DeCarlo, of 716 Fieldale Lane, started an argument over finances with his 59-year-old wife at about 9:57 a.m. Thursday. It escalated when DeCarlo grabbed a kitchen knife off the counter and stabbed his wife, who was not identified, Grayslake Police Cmdr. Matt McCutcheon said.

As the woman was defending herself, the two fell to the kitchen floor, and DeCarlo broke his hip on impact.

The injury immobilized DeCarlo enough to allowed the woman to break free and run to a neighbor's home, McCutcheon said.

Police officers and rescue personnel were called, and discovered the wife bleeding from multiple defensive stab wounds to her arms and hands. She was in Lake Forest Hospital where she received 15 stitches, McCutcheon said Friday.

"There were multiple high-impact stab wounds on her," McCutcheon said. "This was definitely a very violent attack."

Officers discovered DeCarlo on the kitchen floor complaining of the injured hip. Police say they recovered the knife at the scene and transported him to Condell Medical Center in Libertyville for care.

During the investigation, McCutcheon said, police discovered an Uzi semiautomatic submachine gun and a Beretta pistol in the DeCarlo home.

The two guns are legal to be owned in the state of Illinois, but DeCarlo did not have a valid firearm owner identification card, McCutcheon said.

McCutcheon said DeCarlo has officially been charged with aggravated domestic battery - a Class 2 felony. If convicted, he could spend up to seven years behind bars.

DeCarlo has also been charged with two counts of possession of a firearm without the requisite firearm owner's identification card and one count of possession of ammunition without a firearm owner's card. Those charges are Class A misdemeanors, McCutcheon said.