Man charged with stabbing another person at Woodstock homeless encampment

A man has been charged with attacking another man with a knife at a homeless encampment in Woodstock, according to McHenry County court records and local authorities.

Arthur E. Johnson, 69, who is listed in court records as transient, has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, both Class 3 felonies.

According to the complaint, Johnson allegedly stabbed a man in the chest using a knife, which caused “a laceration and profuse bleeding.”

Arthur Johnson, accused in stabbing of another man in a Woodstock homeless encampment on Dec. 9, 2024. (Photo provided by McHenry County Sheriff's Office)

Court records allege the stabbing happened about 11:16 a.m. Monday. First responders were called to the 100 block of Eastwood Drive for a report of a stabbing around the same time. The encampment is located in a wooded area set back from Eastwood, behind businesses fronting the road.

Woodstock police at the scene of a homeless camp behind the Woodstock Shell gas station, 110 N. Eastwood Drive, on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. A man suffered a serious chest wound on Monday in the area. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )

First responders found a man with a chest wound in critical condition when they arrived to the scene, according to a Woodstock Fire/Rescue District news release. The man was taken to Northwestern Woodstock Hospital and then flown to Javon Bea Hospital-Riverside in Rockford.

Woodstock Police Chief John Lieb confirmed Tuesday that the alleged stabbing took place in the homeless encampment and involved two people in the encampment.