A 15-year-old Chicago girl was killed by a 19-year-old woman while trying to break up a brawl between two feuding branches of a family, following a dispute that began on Facebook and ended up on the streets of Englewood neighborhood. Interestingly, the young woman Barbara "Meeka" Clifton used a knife given by her mother to stab 15-year-old Erica Blackhawk, Cook County prosecutors said.
According to police, one of the women kicked off the melee when she hit the other, as friends and relatives on both sides jumped in. Blackhawk was immediately rushed to a city hospital where she died. At least two other people were also seriously wounded during the brawl.
Strange Reasons for Murder
Clifton's mother had been fighting with her sister on Facebook. Things took a wild turn after Clifton's cousin blocked her, from a Facebook Live video, according to police. This didn't go down well with Clifton and her family following which the two feuding mothers allegedly arranged for a street fight near Hamilton Park.
Clifton was trying to fight with her cousin, when his girlfriend Blackhawk tried to break up the brawl. That further enraged the Clifton family. In fact, Clifton's mother was the one who gave her the knife before she fatally stabbed Blackhawk, prosecutors said. Blackhawk suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso and collapsed as she staggered back toward her house. Before losing consciousness, she reportedly also told witnesses that Clifton was her attacker, prosecutors said.
During the entire incident there were several friends and relatives who cheered the two fighting women on either side. Blackhawk was rushed by paramedics to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she died.
Who's to be Blamed?
The two families had reportedly been feuding for a long time. Clifton's mother and her sister's families had allegedly sent each other threatening messages after Clifton was blocked from the Facebook Live video, prosecutors said. On evening of the fight, Clifton and her mother exited a car and confronted her sister's family in the 7400 block of South Parnell Avenue. Blackhawk and her boyfriend, Clifton's cousin, were in their house nearby.
The fight began and Clifton's mother first took a sock with a metal object in it, possibly a lock, and hit her sister in the head with it, triggering a full-out fight, prosecutors said. Following that, Blackhawk allegedly came running unarmed from a porch to break up the fight. Clifton then grabbed her by the shoulder and stabbed her two or three times in the chest and abdomen, prosecutors said.
Clifton was arrested Saturday and charged with first-degree murder. Her mother has not been charged. In court, Clifton's defense lawyer argued she had not been the one to instigate the chaos. That however, won't help much given that she ultimately, for whatever reasons, stabbed Blackhawk and killed her. Clifton is held on $250,000 bail.
