Man charged in stabbing that killed CTA janitor Julian Mobley on Green Line
By Adam Harrington, Asal Rezaei, Sara Machi, Natalie Goldstick, Sabrina Franza
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CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — A man was ordered detained Sunday in a stabbing that killed a Chicago Transit Authority janitor at the Damen Green Line station on the Near West Side last week.
Chevazz Campbell, 37, of the Kenwood neighborhood, was charged with one count each of first-degree murder, felony murder, armed robbery, and possession of a weapon, as well as having weapons on CTA property and entering CTA property without paying.
There were also two active warrants for his arrest at the time of the stabbing that killed janitor Julian Mobley, 41.
Prosecutors said Campbell was on electronic monitoring wearing an ankle bracelet because of those two earlier felony cases.
A judge ordered him detained Sunday in Cook County Criminal Court.
Campbell was taken into custody at 9:39 p.m. Friday at the Englewood (7th) District police station, 1438 W. 63rd St., where prosecutors said he had turned himself in.
In a proffer, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office said Campbell walked into the Damen Green Line station at 2:58 p.m. Thursday and walked up to the customer service kiosk, carrying a gray Adidas duffel bag and a smaller black crossbody bag.
Another CTA employee was inside the kiosk, prosecutors said.
Campbell began humping the handicap accessible gate, prompting the station attendant in the kiosk to knock on the window to warn him not to, prosecutors said. Campbell jumped the gate anyway and began arguing with the attendant in the kiosk, using several racial slurs, prosecutors said.
The attendant never left the kiosk.
Meanwhile, Mobley was sweeping the exterior of the station, and made his way into the interior mezzanine. He noticed Campbell quarreling with the attendant and began speaking with Campbell as Campbell went up the escalator to the train platform, prosecutors said.
Mobley and Campbell began quarreling, and Campbell said he had something to show Mobley, prosecutors said. Mobley began sweeping near the turnstiles and made his way to the kiosk, while Campbell walked back down the stairs and out of the station, prosecutors said.
Surveillance video then showed Campbell removing an item from his black crossbody bag and walking into the mezzanine again, prosecutors said. Campbell walked up to where Mobley was standing and sprayed him in the face with a chemical spray twice, prosecutors said.
Mobley’s CTA ID card and lanyard fell on the floor.
Mobley ran out of the station. Campbell chased him and took a knife from his crossbody bag, prosecutors said.
Campbell stabbed Mobley once in the neck, prosecutors said. At some point, Mobley’s work phone fell on the ground and Campbell picked it up, prosecutors said.
Mobley was bleeding profusely from the neck as he ran into a janitor’s closet, while Campbell picked up Mobley’s personal items, prosecutors said.
Chicago firefighters came to the scene and found Mobley unconscious in the janitor’s closet, prosecutors said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County, where he was pronounced dead.
Meanwhile, Campbell ran into an alley and dropped Mobley’s CTA ID, lanyard, and phone down a storm drain, prosecutors said. He then entered the nearby 1 Stop Market store and asked for a bag, and put the contents of his gray duffel bag into the plastic bag he received there, prosecutors said.
Campbell took off his jacket and turned it inside out, and told the store owner he was involved in a fight at “Damen and Hoyne,” prosecutors said. Damen and Hoyne avenues run parallel and do not intersect.
Campbell asked the store owner to hang onto the duffel bag and asked to borrow a hat, prosecutors said. Police recovered the duffel bag from the store.
Campbell eventually turned himself in at the Englewood police district.
Police said while surrendering, Campbell indicated he was the person who stabbed Julian Mobley earlier the same day. Police said he told them he had gone home, changed his clothes, and made sure he did not have any strings of jewelry on before he turned himself in — seemingly preparing himself to be in police custody
Police wrote they have body-worn camera video of Campbell saying he had “really f****d up” and “crashed out.”
The store owner, who has known Campbell as a customer for more than 10 years, identified him in a lineup and in surveillance stills. The CTA attendant also identified Campbell, prosecutors said.
Mobley’s 14-year-old daughter went on TikTok after the stabbing to share how she’s feeling as she grapples with the fact that her dad won’t be able to watch her or her younger brother grow up.
“There was so much I didn’t get a chance to say to him,” she said. “There were so many more years we could have had together, and my little brother could have had even more with him.”
Campbell has a lengthy criminal history, including a three-year sentence for stabbing another person in 2018. CBS News Chicago counted at least 29 crimes on Campbell’s record dating back to when he was a teenager.
In a statement Sunday, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen Burke and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 President Pennie McCoach issued a joint statement noting that Campbell was on electronic monitoring for probation after a retail theft conviction at the time of the murder.
“The defendant repeatedly demonstrated an unwillingness to comply with electronic monitoring restrictions, and those violations were repeatedly ignored because there is a lack of effective oversight,” Burke and McCoach said in the statement. “On at least four occasions prior to the murder, prosecutors filed to violate the defendant’s probation because of repeated curfew violations, including multiple periods when he was out of compliance for hours at a time.”
Burke and McCoach said the failure of the electronic monitoring system in Cook County “could not be clearer.”
“Our members show up every single day to serve the people of Chicago. They keep this city moving. They deserve to return home safely,” McCoach said. “We have been sounding the alarm about safety for years.”
Campbell was due back in court on Wednesday.
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