Posted on 10/17/2026 1:50:57 PM PDT by simpson96
A Skokie man has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly holding a senior citizen’s head underwater in a pond at Westfield Old Orchard Mall on Tuesday.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office charged 35-year-old William Dobbs with one count of attempted murder, one count of aggravated battery to a senior citizen and one count of aggravated battery with great bodily harm, a news release from the Skokie Police Department said on Wednesday.
Skokie police arrested Dobbs on Tuesday morning after he reportedly attempted to rob a woman at Westfield Old Orchard Mall and held her head underwater in a pond.
According to the Skokie Police Department, officers responded to the shopping center at 11:01 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, for a report of an attempted robbery, battery and possible firearm.
Individuals reportedly told police that a man was holding a woman’s head underwater in a pond at the north end of the mall after trying to take the woman’s purse.
Bystanders reportedly intervened and separated the man from the woman before Skokie police arrived. Officers then detained the man once they arrived on scene, the news release says.
The initial report of a handgun present was not substantiated, the release says.
A preliminary investigation indicates that the two didn’t know each other, and the man struck the woman unprovoked with a saddle-type bag when they crossed paths in the outdoor mall near a pond, ultimately pushing her into the pond, according to the news release.
The man then held the woman’s head underwater, police said. She reportedly was transported to an area hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Affluent area, NW suburb of Chicago.
We can't have nice things anymore.
He was probably just hormonal. Let him go.
He looks sane, hahaha. Glad there were bystanders willing to help.
Halloween. Dunking for apples….with help.
Isn’t that Colin Kapernak?
Yes, BooBoo, yes it was.
Bystanders reportedly intervened and separated the man from the woman before Skokie police arrived.
Wait for the other shoe to drop, look at the mug shot; that animal, IT has to have priors and was let out to victimize other innocent people by a soros DA and or woke judge........
Super liberal north shore suburbs getting what they voted for, good and hard!
Skokie made natural news decades ago because of neo-Nazis deciding to march there. Many of the Jewish residents were Holocaust survivors.
National news, not natural news.
Postpartum psychosis.
👍
I hate Illinois Nazis.
That Illinois Nazi march was immortalized in the iconic Chicago film, The Blues Brothers. If anyone hasn’t seen it, it’s required viewing.
Wow, I can’t believe nobody got it.
They went to 1060 W Addison:)
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