Chicago – A Pilsen man with no apparent criminal record allegedly slit his landlord’s throat Friday in what prosecutors described as a dispute about unpaid rent. Oscar Hernandez, 22, of the 1800 block of South Allport Street, appeared in Cook County Bond Court on Sunday charged with attempted first-degree murder. Hernandez and the landlord, a 42-year-old man, met outside the apartment on Allport, and the fight about the rent ensued, according to prosecutors and police reports. The victim identified Hernandez as the man “who armed with a knife, cut the victim’s throat and stabbed him about the body and hands,” according to police reports.

Prosecutors said Hernandez gave a statement to police admitting that he cut the victim’s throat. “We don’t know all the facts,” Charles Lauer said. “(Hernandez) has never been in trouble. These charges are something that is completely out of character.” The landlord, who needed 30 stitches in his neck, remained in the hospital Sunday, according to prosecutors. The defendant, who was also taken to the hospital, appeared in court with three fingers bandaged. “He said there was a struggle,” Lauer said. “I think a fight occurred… the landlord got the worst of it.” In trying to persuade the judge to set a “reasonable” bail, the attorney said that Hernandez has run the Chicago Marathon three times and that he had never been in trouble with police before.

Big time power move by this guy. I don’t know the specifics of what they were arguing about but you can be pretty well sure that the landlord jacked up this dude’s rent or some other typical landlord move. They always spring news like that on you and try to make you feel that there’s nothing you can do about it. Always spouting out some bullshit about property levels and taxes and permits and blah blah blah. Really leaving you no other option but to take a knife to their gut and start slashing them up down and all around. Gotta take the power back in some way shape or form. In Oscar Hernandez’s case it’s in the form of a shiv to the jugular in broad daylight. Cherry on top was leaving him alive too. Just totally eliminates the chance for some other owner to come in and pull the same rent-hike move. Just strap yourself up to a nice rent controlled place and when you finally get out of jail in 20 years you’ll be sitting pretty looking at the same price you paid before you almost murdered your landlord. Like I said, power move city.