Chicago PD Denise Solorzano.
Denise Solorzano is a Chicago, Illinois, woman who is accused in a series of random bat attacks that occurred between May 7 and May 9, 2023, according to a news release from the Chicago Police Department.
According to the Chicago police news release, Solorzano, 26, lives in the 4900 block of West Lawrence in Chicago, Illinois.
She is accused of three felony counts of aggravated battery/public place; four felony counts of aggravated battery – use of a deadly weapon; and one felony count of aggravated assault/operating a motor vehicle/struck, the Chicago PD release says.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Police Accuse Denise Solorzano of Battering at Least 5 Different Women With a Bat
According to the Chicago police news release, Solorzano was arrested on May 10, 2023, at 1:45 a.m. in the 2700 block of West Foster “related to incidents that recently occurred in the 17th (Albany Park) District.”
Solorzano was identified “as the offender who, on May 9, 2023 at 11:27 a.m., battered a 27-year-old female and a 31-year-old female with a baseball bat in the 4500 block of N. Mozart,” police wrote.
According to the police release, “minutes later, she battered a 34-year-old female with said bat in the 3000 block of W. Cullom (17th District.) The offender is also charged in connection to the May 7, 2023, batteries of a 19-year-old female in the 4000 block of W. Lawrence and of a 33-year-old female in the 4200 block of W. Richmond. The offender was placed into custody and charged accordingly.”
WGN-TV reported that eight women were attacked overall, five with a bat, but the police news release doesn’t mention all of those.
2. Denise Solorzano Is Accused of Asking a Victim, ‘What Would You Do if I Hit You With This Bat’?
According to ABC 7 Chicago, prosecutors said in court that Solorzano asked the victims either “What would you do if I hit you with this bat?” or “What would do you do if I punch you in the face?”
The news release does not specify a motive. She is being held on $800,000 bond, according to WGN-TV.
Public records show past addresses for Solorzano in Virginia, Michigan, and Illinois. It was not immediately clear whether she has active Facebook or Instagram accounts.
3. Denise Solorzano Is Accused of Pulling a Woman’s Hair & Punching Her in the Face
According to WGN-TV, in the first incident, Solorzano is accused of leaping out of a white Subaru Sedan and then punching a woman, 33, multiple times while telling her, “I’m going to beat your a**.”
An hour later, she is accused of telling a woman, 19, from behind, “What would you do if I punched you in the face?” WGN reported.
According to WGN, Solorzao is accused of pulling that woman’s hair and striking her. Chicago police initiated and then suspended a pursuit, but they did get Solorzano’s plate number, WGN reported, adding that she is also accused of telling a dog walker, “What would happen if I bashed you with this bat?”
She’s also accused of trying to hit a woman with her Subaru six times, WGN reported.
4. Video Shows Denise Solorzano Swinging the Bat, Reports Say
Video shows one of the attacks.
Shannon Condon told ABC 7 Chicago that she saw the Mozart Street attack, which is the one in the video. According to what Condon told ABC 7 Chicago, she witnessed two women with a stroller and baby when a woman with a bat exited a car and walked toward them.
“I thought she must know them or something, or maybe she was playing a joke on them, and then I saw the woman with the bat start hitting the ladies over and over again, and the ladies were screaming,” Condon told ABC 7.
Condon told the television station that the suspect then got back into her car and left the scene.
According to WGN, Solorzano struck both women in the arms.
5. One of the Women Who Was Attacked Called the Incident ‘Very, Very Strange’
The woman attacked on Richmond Street told Block Club Chicago that she did not know Solorzano.
She told the site that the incident was “just very, very strange.”
“She said, ‘You know? Do you want me to beat your a**?’ or ‘You want me to kick your a** or something?’” The woman said to the news site. “And I was obviously like, ‘No, please don’t. Who are you?’ But I mean, by that point she was already laying into me, and 60 seconds later and it was over. So it’s just very, very strange.”
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