Prosecutors: Mag Mile panhandler slashed tourist’s throat as victim’s son looked on

April 1, 2021- 10:15 p.m

A Chicago man was ordered held without bail Wednesday for allegedly slashing the throat of a tourist who refused to give him money in the heart of the Magnificent Mile.

Prosecutors said the 52-year-old victim and his 15-year-old son were waiting for a crosswalk light to change outside Walgreens, 757 North Michigan when Alaxstair Reed walked up and asked for change around 4:45 p.m. Sunday.

The tourist told Reed he didn’t have any money, but the 39-year-old continued to ask for change, then said, “give me your phone or I’ll kill you,” according to Assistant State’s Attorney Lorraine Scaduto. Reed then allegedly pulled out a knife and slashed the man’s threat, barely missing the victim’s carotid artery.

“There were many people on-scene when this occurred,” Scaduto told Judge Susana Ortiz during Reed’s bond hearing. Passers-by and the victim’s son called 911 while others witnesses flagged down some nearby police officers.

When cops located Reed a couple of blocks away, he was still wearing a distinctive poncho and had a knife in his pants pocket, Scaduto said. The attack, the arrest, and officers’ recovery of the knife were all captured on various cameras, she said.

The victim underwent surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital because the attack knicked some arteries, Scaduto said.

She added that he remains hospitalized, but his condition has stabilized.Prosecutors have charged Reed with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.

Reed gave police a home address in downstate Danville after his arrest, but both Scaduto and Reed’s defense attorney said he actually lives in Chicago.

In that case, Reed pointed a gun at a 29-year-old woman after she parked in the 1400 block of North Orleans and said, “give me your money, bitch,” according to Scaduto.The woman, who only had $1, gave it to him.

Reed then reached into her car, grabbed a curling iron, and pistol-whipped the woman in the back of her head when she screamed, Scaduto continued.

Police arrested him nearby and allegedly found a handgun in his possession.In 2009, Reed received a 14-year sentence for a narcotics case in Champaign County.

He also received a three-year narcotics sentence in 1998.“There seems to be something going on with Mr. Reed,” Assistant Public Defender Melissa Delgado said Wednesday.“I’m not blaming the victims in any way.

However, it’s us as a society — especially in Cook County — [who] have failed individuals with mental health issues,” she told Judge Ortiz. Delgado encouraged Ortiz to reject a state request to have Reed held without bail in favor of other conditions such as electronic monitoring with mental health support and other services.

The judge acknowledged that Reed might have mental health conditions, “however that does not make Mr. Reed any less dangerous. In fact, it may make him more dangerous,” she said.

Ortiz reflected on the similarities between the state’s allegations and the 2001 robbery, saying Reed was accused of inflicting injury on both victims after demanding money. She then ordered him held without bail.