$250K bond for man charged with stabbing at Northerly Island concert

Cook County prosecutors on Thursday could not say what touched off a “verbal argument” that led to a stabbing during a punk rock concert on Northerly Island earlier this week.

At a bond hearing, Thomas Christensen’s assistant public defender, Gillian Daniels, stated that his client acted in self-defense.

Judge James Brown ordered the 34-year-old Humboldt Park man held in lieu of $250,000 bail on charges of aggravated battery and a misdemeanor charge of battery.

Christensen, his dyed-black hair matted, nodded to a heavily tattooed woman seated in the courtroom gallery as he was led back to a holding cell.

Assistant State’s Attorney Nancee Hofheimer said that Christensen also cut the chest of a South Bend woman who was at the concert as Christensen struggled to run off after the stabbing Tuesday.

The Bridgeport man Christensen allegedly stabbed is in stable condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Christensen got into an argument with the 29-year-old man and 34-year-old woman about 9:30 p.m. at a bar inside Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island during a concert, police said at the time.

The three were there for a concert by the Dropkick Murphys and Rancid.

The argument spilled into the venue, where Christensen pulled a 3 1/2-inch pocket knife and stabbed the man in the neck and face, police said. The woman suffered a cut to her chest as a group tried to separate the men.

Christensen was taken into custody and provided medical attention at the scene for superficial wounds, police said. The knife was recovered by security guards at Northerly Island.

Christensen, who has a business degree from Portland State University, has lived in Chicago for three years and works for Prairie Shores, a real estate company, according to Daniels.