28-Year-Old Man Randomly Attacks 5 Women Minutes Apart, Gets Arrested: Police

A 28-year-old man in Chicago, Illinois, has been arrested after he allegedly attacked and attempted to rob multiple women separately in a matter of minutes.

William Livingston, of Chicago, was identified as the suspect who allegedly struck and attempted to take the belongings of five women in the Chicago Loop in separate attacks that occurred within half an hour Tuesday, Fox 32 Chicago reported.

The first alleged attack involved a 30-year-old victim and occurred around 12 p.m. in the 700 block of South State Street. The second alleged incident involved a 25-year-old victim and took place in the 0-100 block of E. Van Buren at 12:09 p.m.

Two minutes later, the suspect allegedly attacked the third woman, also 25, in the 0-100 block of E. Jackson. The two remaining victims, aged 27 and 49, were allegedly attacked in the 0-100 block of E. Monroe at 12:22 p.m, according to Fox 32 Chicago.

Livingston was taken into custody and charged with four counts of aggravated battery, two counts of attempted robbery and a misdemeanor count of battery, Chicago police said.

Livingston was set to appear in central bond court Thursday.

One of the alleged victims was identified by WGN9 as DePaul University student Cami Blechschmidt. The other women's names have not been disclosed.

Blechschmidt told the outlet that she just left Starbucks at the intersection of Jackson and Wabash when she encountered a stranger.

"Every Tuesday, I go to the Loop and go to DePaul to meet an advisor for school," Blechschmidt said.

The college student was waiting for her Lyft ride around noon when she said that she felt something behind her.

“I felt a hand in my pocket. I turned my head and there was a man directly in front of me and he punched me directly in the face,” Blechschmidt said. “We made eye contact and he just had pure hate in his eyes. Just anger, pure anger.”

She said she was knocked to the ground as the man walked off. Blechschmidt said she "was in complete shock and started crying."

Livingston has been arrested multiple times, including twice in 2017 for battery. He also faced aggravated assault charges in 2016 and 2015, according to Chicago police records.

“This guy has done this before,” Blechschmidt said. “Letting him go home is not working.”