PROSECUTORS: WOMAN USED METAL POLE TO BEAT NEIGHBOR TO DEATH

A woman said her neighbor “got what he deserved” after she and a friend beat him to death Wednesday night in their Austin neighborhood apartment building, according to Cook County prosecutors.

Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. on Saturday called the alleged attack a “feeding frenzy” before he denied bail for Tabatha Washington, 33, charged with first- degree murder in the death of 28- year- old Kim K. Edmundson.

About 9: 20 p. m. Wednesday, Edmundson started arguing with another neighbor who punched him, Assistant State’s Attorney Taylor Dall said at Washington’s bond hearing. That person backed off from the fight when Washington, who lived in the same building in the 5300 block of West Washington, went to her apartment and grabbed a metal pole, Dall said.

Washington used the pole to repeatedly hit Edmundson in the face, head and chest, while her friend punched him, Dall said. Edmundson later died at Stroger Hospital.

Washington and her friend returned to Washington’s apartment with a third person, and responding police officers could hear their loud conversation through a window, with someone saying, “He got what he deserved,” Dall said.

Washington told detectives she hit Edmundson with a pole in self- defense, according to a police report.

Two people were arrested, according to the police report, but only Washington has been charged in the case.