A 13-year-old Chicago girl is facing first-degree murder charges after allegedly stabbing another teen to death with a knife reportedly provided by her mother during a fight on the South Side over the weekend, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The girl’s mother, 35-year-old Tamika Gayden, has also been charged with first-degree murder in the Saturday-night stabbing death of DeKayla Dansberry, 15, as well as contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
According to the report, the girl was charged as a juvenile Tuesday morning after one witness identified her in a video of the fight and another witness claimed to have seen the girl wiping blood from the knife after the attack, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Christine Hake said.
“The evidence is overwhelming,” Hake told Circuit Judge Cynthia Ramirez in juvenile court. The 13-year-old will be held in custody until a hearing June 7.
DeKayla’s parents attended Tuesday’s hearing.
“A 13-year-old girl. I don’t know what to say,” Sheila Dansberry, DeKayla’s mother, told reporters outside the courthouse. “It’s just devastating. A baby, too. But the parent was supposed to [have] handed her the knife, so she’s locked up, too, and that’s good.”
The incident unfolded during a fight involving a large group around 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood. After the fight, two witnesses were with the 13-year-old in her apartment. One witness reportedly saw her wash blood of the knife, while the other saw her with the knife in her hand. Yet another witness reportedly heard her say in panic, “I killed her. I killed her.”
According to the Tribune, DeKayla’s parents had no idea what the fight was about.
“I’m not sure. I’m sure it’s all just kids’ stuff … escalated to where someone was stabbed,” her father, Julian Glanton, said.
DeKayla was remembered Sunday as a bright student with a 3.7 GPA who was a well-liked track athlete at Johnson College Prep. Her mother recalls that she was planning on running at the state meet.
“The last thing she said to me was, ‘Mom, you need to get everything ready, get my clothes ready, [because] I’m going downstate,” Dansberry said.
Read more at the Chicago Tribune.