Charges Pending Against 29-Year-Old Man Accused in Art Institute Stabbing

Caption: Michael Wims Jr. 29, of Chicago, has been charged with aggravated assault. | Cook County Sheriff

Chicago Police announced charges against a South Side man who is accused of stabbing another man in the neck outside of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Michael Wims Jr., 29, of the 8100 block of South Artesian Avenue, was charged with one count of aggravated battery/great bodily harm.

Police said that Wims got into a verbal altercation with a 57-year-old man in an outdoor garden at the Art Institute late Wednesday afternoon. Wims pulled out a knife and stabbed the man in the neck.

Wims fled the scene and was taken into custody shortly after on Lower Wacker Drive. He was identified as the assailant in the stabbing by witnesses, police said.

The older man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. News reports give the man’s condition as serious or critical.

The Chicago Tribune reported that both men appeared to be homeless.

Wims has a bond hearing Friday at the George Leighton Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California.

This story has been updated with new information.