Teen charged with attempted murder in Mount Prospect stabbing

A Mount Prospect teenager is facing attempted murder charges in connection with a stabbing early last month at a vacant commercial building.

Manuel Rivera Jr., 18, also faces felony battery and armed robbery charges stemming from the attack.

Police said they are still looking for a 17-year-old suspected accomplice.

According to police, the victim was attacked April 6 inside a vacant building on the 1400 block of South Elmhurst Road. The male victim told police he had been beaten unconscious by the teens, who then set his pant leg on fire and stabbed him multiple times in the midsection and leg.

After regaining consciousness from the beating, the victim was able to make it to a gas station on the 1700 block of West Dempster Street the following afternoon, where emergency workers were summoned.

The victim was transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge for treatment of the stab and burn wounds. He is expected to survive, police said.

The victim told detectives that he was hanging out with the two teens in the vacant building on the evening of April 6. He let the teens borrow his cell phone, but they beat him when he asked for it back, he reported. The teens also stole other personal items belonging to the victim before fleeing, police said.

Police were able to identify both suspects and arrested Rivera April 23. He was ordered held at the Cook County jail at a detention hearing two days later. His next court date is May 17 at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.

Police are still looking for Rivera’s 17-year-old accomplice, who is described as a 5-foot, 6-inch tall Hispanic male who weighs about 140 pounds. He has chin-length brown hair and a rosary tattoo on his right hand, according to police.