Chicago stabbing suspect charged with murder after a man was stabbed 13 times

A Chicago man is dead after a street argument escalated into a stabbing that prosecutors described in court on Saturday, and the accused attacker is being held without release pending trial.

Kelly Day, 32, is charged with first degree murder in the death of Larry Young, 50. Prosecutors told the court that earlier last Wednesday, at a McDonald's, a group of strangers mocked Day, who is transgender, over the use of a women's bathroom. Young was not part of that group. Later, prosecutors say, Young made comments about Day's gender as he approached on the street, and the two argued while Day's partner tried to pull Day away. Young pushed Day and walked off toward a gas station across the street.

Prosecutors say Day followed, telling her wife she did not want bullies to get away with mocking her, and the confrontation resumed outside the gas station in the 1400 block of East 87th Street. Surveillance footage, prosecutors said, shows Day standing over Young on the ground and stabbing him 13 times in the head, neck and upper shoulders. The attack was forceful enough that the tip of the blade broke off in Young's skull. Day's seven year old stepson witnessed the attack, according to prosecutors. Day then called 911, claimed self defense, threw away the knife and left the scene, prosecutors said. Police later recovered the knife with part of its blade missing.

At Saturday's hearing at Central Bond Court, Judge John Hock granted the prosecution's request to keep Day in custody pending trial, citing in part the brutality of the attack. Day claims the stabbing was self defense. That claim, and the sequence on the surveillance footage, will be tested in court. The charges are allegations until a trial decides them.