The man charged with stabbing an Oak Brook doctor dining with his family on the Mag Mile had been out of prison just a week for slashing a grocery store security guard, prosecutors said.
Jimmy Harris, 56, was denied bail after Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto told the judge that Harris "is clearly a danger to the community."
Harris has used a long list of aliases and has at least 60 arrests and nine felony convictions dating back to the late 1970s, according to Chicago police, state and court records.
On Saturday night, Harris approached the victim, identified by the family as Dr. Mir Jafar Shah, in the restroom of the Westin Hotel and stabbed him in the right side of his neck and face, Scaduto said. Shah turned and started screaming for help, and Harris punched him in the eye.
Shah tried to grab Harris' arms to "prevent him from cutting" him any further, and tried to pull Harris out of the bathroom so his cries for help could be heard, Scaduto said. Harris pulled Shah back into the bathroom, but he was finally able to break free and run back into the restaurant.
Moments later, witnesses saw Harris leaving the hotel with blood on his hands and clothes and holding a knife, Scaduto said. The bartender at the restaurant chased Harris out the door and tried to stop him on the street, but Harris turned and stabbed him once in the chest, she said.
Harris then ran into the nearby Cheesecake Factory restaurant, where he was arrested in the bathroom after changing his clothes. Police recovered the bloody knife from the bathroom, as well as the black hooded sweatshirt he was wearing during the assault, the prosecutor said.
Shah remained hospitalized Monday with stab wounds to the neck and face and blurry vision from the punch to the eye, Scaduto said. The bartender received stitches for the wound to the chest and has since been released.
Harris appeared in court in a black sweatshirt and khaki pants with his hair in long braids. He kept his hands behind his back and answered "Yes, sir" when Judge Edward Harmening asked him if he understood the proceedings.
Harmening ordered Harris held without bail.
Harris was paroled on Nov. 9 for a 2007 armed robbery conviction and had been out of prison "barely a week" when the attack occurred, Scaduto said.
In the earlier attack, authorities said Harris walked into a Near West Side Dominick's store, stuffed several bottles of rum into his pants and walked out, according to court records. A store security agent watching on a closed-circuit surveillance system pursued Harris outside, authorities said.
Harris ran from the security agent but fell, breaking the glass bottles. Authorities said Harris used the glass shards to cut the agent on the arm and leg. Harris was detained until police arrived and the 30-year-old security agent was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.
Harris was also convicted of armed robbery and aggravated battery for beating a 59-year-old victim in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood, Scaduto said.
Harris, who has tattoos showing allegiance to the Conservative Vice Lord street gang, has been convicted for burglary, robbery and armed robbery. He has been collectively sentenced to 60 years in prison since 1979.
Shah had been dining with six others in a restaurant inside the Westin when he was attacked. His niece, Jameela Ali, 28, of Lincoln Park, said she heard a commotion inside a restoom, then saw her uncle, badly injured, struggling with another man outside the restroom.
"His left eye was bruised, totally swollen shut," Ali said. "There was blood gushing from his neck, blood all over his clothes. He looked like he had been punched in the face several times. I started screaming. I didn't know what to do."
Ali said he suffered a laceration to his external jugular vein and received exploratory surgery to ensure there was no further damage.
Asked about the attack, Mayor Rahm Emanuel noted that an arrest had been quickly made and that progress is being made in reducing crime in all neighborhoods in Chicago.
"It's not about just the Magnificent Mile," he said at an unrelated new conference. "It's about every part of this city having the safety that as I said before, I want Roseland as safe as Ravenswood, I want South Shore as safe as Sauganash, and I want Woodlawn as safe as Wildwood. And I won't rest until that happens. And there is in fact, if you look at the stuff, and you look at, every day it's a struggle."
Tribune reporters Liam Ford and Adam Sege contributed.
cdrhodes@tribune.com
Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking
Suspect in Mag Mile stabbing was out of jail 'barely a week'
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Suspect in Mag Mile stabbing was out of jail 'barely a week'
