The man charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of a Chicago Transit Authority janitor last week was already on electronic monitoring as part of his probation for two felony cases, prosecutors said in court Sunday.
Chevazz Campbell, 37, was ordered detained at a hearing Sunday, where prosecutors told a Cook County judge he argued with and slung racial slurs at CTA employees before macing and fatally stabbing Julian Mobley, a CTA janitor.
Campbell entered the Damen Green Line station around 3 p.m. Thursday and tried to jump the gate without paying, prosecutors said. He argued with a CTA employee sitting inside a kiosk, using racial slurs, prosecutors alleged.
Mobley was working nearby and also argued with Campbell as he took the escalator to the train platform, prosecutors said. Campbell then came back downstairs and left the station, and took something out of his bag before going back inside, surveillance video shows, according to prosecutors.
Campbell approached Mobley and sprayed him in the face with mace twice, prosecutors said. Mobley ran away and Campbell chased after him, then stabbed him once in the neck with a knife he took from his bag, prosecutors said.
Mobley ran into a janitor’s closet, gushing blood from his neck, prosecutors said.
He was taken to Stroger Hospital and pronounced dead.
Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke and president of ATU Local 308, the union that represents CTA workers, including Mobley, released a joint statement calling for changes to the state’s electronic monitoring system. Campbell had violated his curfew at least four times before the stabbing, they said in the statement.
“The failures of our electronic monitoring system could not be clearer: there is not effective monitoring or proactive enforcement when someone is unaccounted for, and that poses a grave risk to public safety,” they said in the statement. “We need a permanent legislative solution to close these gaps, strengthen accountability, and better protect people like Julian, who deserve to be safe on the job and return home to their families after work.”
Campbell fled the scene with Mobley’s CTA identification card and cellphone, which he picked up after Mobley dropped them during the incident. They were both found in a storm drain that Campbell was seen bending down next to after he left the scene, prosecutors said.
Campbell then stopped at a convenience store, where he turned his jacket inside out, gave the store clerk his duffel bag and asked to borrow a hat, presumably trying to disguise himself.
He surrendered later that night and was identified on surveillance video by someone who has known him most of his life, prosecutors said.
