Shardonnae Pruitt / Photo from Chicago Police
BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
A South Side woman previously convicted for a stabbing at a local Chuck E. Cheese allegedly plunged a knife into her ex-boyfriend’s chest and killed him after their escalating fights on social media turned physical.
Shardonnae Pruitt, 20, had been dating Kahlin Holloway earlier this year but the relationship ended after Pruitt found out Holloway had a girlfriend and child in the suburbs, Cook County prosecutors said.
Still, the pair allegedly kept in contact by fighting on social media.
On Sunday, Holloway, 21, came to Pruitt’s house in the 9600 block of South Merrion Avenue to confront her about statements she said about him on the internet, Assistant State’s Attorney Anthony Lucafo said.
The two argued for a bit before Holloway left to hang out with two of their mutual friends, Lucafo said.
Before Holloway picked up his friends, he got a call from a male friend of Pruitt’s, who told him he shouldn’t be coming to Pruitt’s home when her current boyfriend wasn’t there, Lucafo said.
Holloway ended up going back to Pruitt’s house with the two others.
While outside, Holloway started fighting with Pruitt and one of the other friends, Lucafo said.
At some point, Pruitt allegedly went back inside and returned with a kitchen knife.
One of the friends tried to intervene but Pruitt was able to stab Holloway, Lucafo said.
Pruitt allegedly admitted to detectives that she stabbed Holloway.
Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered Pruitt held in lieu of $750,000 bond Tuesday.
“Ms. Pruitt maintains that she is not guilty of the charge of first-degree murder, and the prosecution will be unable to disprove her innocence,” her attorney, Steven Fagan, said in an email after the brief hearing.
In October, Pruitt was sentenced to 12 months supervision for her role in a stabbing incident at a Southwest Side Chuck E. Cheese.
Lucafo said Pruitt had used a box cutter in that incident to stab the victim in the right cheek, left jaw and right elbow. The victim needed 20 stitches.
Prosecutors said that victim was Pruitt’s boss, but according to a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court earlier this year, Pruitt attacked a customer.
Pruitt, then a waitress at Chuck E. Cheese threw a napkin dispenser at LaNasia Randle’s boyfriend before stabbing her at the eatery, in the 5300 block of South Kedzie Avenue, the lawsuit alleged.
The dispute allegedly began after Pruitt took away a salad plate and accused Randle’s boyfriend of not paying for the salad bar.
Pruitt was acquitted of misdemeanor battery by reason of self defense but was convicted misdemeanor of assault for throwing “an item at the patron,” Fagan said.