Man charged with fatal River North stabbing: ‘A needless traffic argument turned deadly’

A man has been charged with stabbing another man to death during a road rage incident in River North earlier this week.

Alan Perez, 25, surrendered to police and was charged with one count of first-degree murder, Chicago police Supt. David Brown announced at a press conference Friday afternoon.

“This was a senseless act of violence, a needless traffic argument turned deadly,” Brown said.

Perez is accused of stabbing Jeremy Walker, 36, in the neck during a fight in the first block of West Ohio Street Tuesday evening. Witnesses said Walker got out of his car at the Dearborn Street intersection and yelled at Perez who was behind him and was honking his horn.

The two began to fight and Perez stabbed Walker, then jumped back in his car and fled down Dearborn, witnesses told police. Walker got into his car and drove five blocks to Michigan Avenue, stopping near a police car. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died.

The morning after the attack, police located the car in the 2200 block of West 50th Place where it was registered, according to police. While officers searched the car, two people came out and told them they were in the car at the time of the stabbing.

They identified Perez as the driver and he turned himself in on Thursday, Brown said. He was scheduled to appear in bond court Saturday.

Walker had a 12-year-old son and often watched him play organized basketball.

“His son asked what’s going to happen now that his dad won’t be at his game Saturday,” Daphne Terrell, Walker’s mother, told the Chicago Sun-Times. She told him, “Let’s play this ball for your dad and show him that you’re going to be the best that you can.”