A Highland Park man has been formally indicted on charges of attempted murder and aggravated domestic battery after prosecutors say he went on a “savage” rampage against his elderly father, stabbing him repeatedly and physically beating him.
Luke A. Williams, 35, of Highland Park, is due back in court on June 4 for an arraignment hearing in front of Lake County Circuit Court Judge Victoria Rossetti regarding the charges approved by a Lake County Grand Jury earlier this week.
Williams is currently being held in Lake County Jail pending trial.
The Highland Park Police Department and Highland Park Fire Department were called to a home in the 800 block of Woodbine Road for a report of a stabbing around 11:55 p.m. on April 25.
Highland Park Communications Manager Amanda Bennett said two people were found in the home suffering from stab wounds.
Both were transported to the hospital by ambulance and a third person at the scene was uninjured.
A heavy police presence was active for hours into early Saturday morning during the investigation.
Detectives appeared to be moving inside a home and outside the property during the investigation. Crime scene tape was set up around the property.
Following the investigation, Williams was charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder, a Class X felony, and one count of aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony, in connection with the stabbing.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Dino Katris said Williams and the victim, a 70-year-old man, are father and son.
The victim’s wife called 911 and told a dispatcher, “My son is trying to kill my husband, he stabbed him with scissors and is hitting him with a bat.”
Officers arrived at the home on Woodbine Road and the wife told officers her son was walking down the street and he had just tried to kill her husband.
Investigators learned that the wife was awoken to noises coming from her husband’s bedroom upstairs, Katris said.
She entered the room and saw Williams on top of her husband.
He was stabbing her husband multiple times in the head with a pair of scissors, Katris said.
The woman was able to wrestle the scissors away from Williams but the son continued his attack.
Katris said Williams ripped a bedpost from the bed and began to bludgeon his father all over his body.
Williams reportedly yelled, “I have to kill him, I have to kill him,” as the wife called 911 and tried to help her husband flee the home, Katris said.
Williams was fleeing on foot with a kitchen knife when police arrived and surrounded him.
He stabbed himself in the throat with the knife and tried to jump a fence to escape, but officers were able to take him into custody, Katris said.
Williams and the victim were transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Officers saw that the father was covered in blood and suffering from severe lacerations to his face and scalp.
Katris said investigators later learned the victim suffered several facial fractures, broken teeth, a punctured lung and severe facial lacerations.
The victim was in the hospital for approximately 10 days for treatment.
Williams was later arrested after being discharged from the hospital.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Williams pending trial, calling him “dangerous” because he intended to kill his father.
Katris said Williams suffers from bipolar disorder, and the family reported that he has a “major meltdown” every couple of years.
“He savagely cut, stabbed, and bludgeoned his father without provocation, breaking his face bones, busting out his teeth, slicing up his head and face, and puncturing his lung,” Katris said.
“The defendant is mentally unstable and [has] shown that he is able and willing to inflict fatal injuries even to those members of society that love and care for his needs. The danger to [the victim] and the public is too great to release this defendant on court conditions,” Katris said.
Williams was on federal parole for conspiracy to commit bank fraud at the time of the incident.
Lake County Circuit Court Judge Michael Nerheim granted the petition to detain Williams following a detention hearing on May 8.