Anderson A. Contreras
The man accused of a deadly stabbing in Elgin committed the attack because the victim was wearing the wrong color clothing, a Kane County prosecutor said at a court hearing Thursday.
Assistant state’s attorney Mark Stajdohar provided details about the Oct. 12 stabbing when he asked Kane County Judge Julia Yetter to deny pretrial release for 21-year-old Anderson A. Contreras.
Yetter ruled that Contreras should remain in custody.
Contreras is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery in the death of Sunday Ogunjimi, 36, of Elgin.
The attack happened about 12:30 p.m. Oct. 12 in the 1000 block of Cedar Avenue in Elgin.
Stajdohar said Contreras had asked Ogunjimi why he was wearing black and red clothes. Contreras later told police he belonged to a gang, and those colors were that of a rival gang.
Ogunjimi was not in a gang and did not know Contreras, Stajdohar said.
Yetter said that, according to a police synopsis submitted to her, Contreras approached Ogunjimi and asked him for $1 and a beer.
When Ogunjimi reached into his backpack for the beer, Contreras stabbed him with a kitchen knife that had a 3- to 5-inch blade.
Ogunjimi ran toward his house, encountered a couple and told them he had been stabbed. He was alive when taken to Advocate Sherman Hospital. He described his attacker to police and told them his attacker said, “You ain’t nobody,” Yetter said.
Contreras’ lawyer, assistant public defender Jacqueline Leder, said that, since his arrest, Contreras has resumed taking prescribed medication for an unspecified mental health condition.
Leder said Contreras has family support and would agree to wear a GPS monitor and have electronic home monitoring if released.
Stajdohar told the judge that no conditions could keep Contreras from being a danger to the public, referring to Contreras’ arrest on Sept. 28 on charges he attacked a boy on a football field at Thompson Middle School in St. Charles.
The boy did not know Contreras. It happened after Contreras had been released from the Kane County jail in St. Charles earlier in the day on a domestic battery case. A judge granted pretrial release.
Prosecutors filed a petition on Oct. 1 requesting revocation of Contreras’ release in the domestic battery case. It was scheduled to be considered Oct. 16.
Stajdohar said Contreras was found delinquent as a juvenile for aggravated battery in a public way and aggravated battery of a person 60 or older.
In January 2023, Contreras was charged with aggravated battery of a peace officer. Court records indicate he was found unfit to stand trial for several months, then later admitted to Treatment Alternative Court.
His next court date is Dec. 6.
