An investigation is underway after two sisters, age 10 and 21, were fatally stabbed at a northwest suburban home Wednesday night, according to Streamwood police.
Police were dispatched around 7:50 p.m. Wednesday for reports of a stabbing inside a home in the 1600 block of McKool Avenue. Uyani Jones, 10, and Janiya Jenkins, 21, were found dead inside the residence, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Police said Thursday morning that they identified Jalonie Jenkins, 25, as a suspect, and that he should be considered “armed and dangerous.” His last known location was in Bensenville. Police said to call 911 if someone sees him and to not approach him.
A relative identified the suspect as a step-brother of the victims.
Bensenville police said Thursday that officers located the suspect’s vehicle in Redmond Park. They said they searched the park with the help of drones and search dogs. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the investigation.
Streamwood police said earlier Thursday morning that “circumstances behind this incident are pending investigation.”
Neighbors described the community as a generally calm and tranquil place. While some said fights occasionally break out, neighbors said this degree of violence is unusual.
“I’ve lived here 21 years,” Manfred Malagan said. “Never seen anything like that.”
Uyani was a fifth-grade student at Parkwood Elementary School, U-46 School District officials confirmed, and Jenkins was a 2021 graduate of Streamwood High School.
The district sent a crisis support team to Parkwood Elementary Friday afternoon for students and staff and offered condolences to the victims’ family in a statement.
“Our heartfelt sympathies are extended to this family and all who are grieving,” the statement said.
Thursday morning, yellow police caution tape surrounded the house, which had a stroller laying in the front yard. People walked by the home with dogs, a few stopping by to look at the crime scene.
Jalynn Perez, 16, lives near the house where the stabbing took place. She was watching a movie when around 6:30 p.m., her living room lit up with cop lights. A few minutes later, she said she saw fire trucks and ambulances pull up.
While Perez didn’t know the victims personally, she said she knew a few kids who would go to the house.
“I see in that specific house that it happened in, teenagers and kids and stuff were always running in and out of there,” Perez said. Her friends described it as just a chill place to hang out, but Perez herself had never been inside.
For Perez, who had moved to the neighborhood around Christmas last year, the news was shocking.
“It’s the suburbs, I thought it was supposed to be so good and stuff,” Perez said, noting that she had been warned that things can get a little rough in the summer time. “I live four minutes away from my (grandma’s) house, and it’s beautiful over there. And then this happens.”
Police asked anyone with information to contact its Crime Tip Hotline at 630-736-3719 or email [email protected].