Cook jail detainee, 19, found fatally beaten

A Cook County Jail detainee was fatally beaten overnight while in his cell, officials said.

At approximately 1:53 a.m., Cook County correctional officers in Division IX found detainee Pedro Ruiz, 19, unresponsive in his cell with apparent head trauma, according to Cook County sheriff’s spokesman Joe Ryan.

“Officers immediately began lifesaving measures, and Ruiz’s cellmate was secured in handcuffs,” Ryan wrote in an email. That inmate was moved to another cell.

Ruiz was transported by

Chicago Fire Department paramedics to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Ruiz was from the 4300 block of South Wood Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Ryan did not identify a suspect but said Cook County sheriff’s police are conducting the death investigation and no charges have been filed at this time.

Ruiz was ordered held at the jail without bond Friday, on charges that included attempted murder and aggravated battery, according to Ryan.

Ruiz was arrested after police identified him as a suspect in the shooting of a 21-year-old man on

Tuesday in the 1800 block of West 47th Street about 11:20 p.m., said Officer Michael Carroll, a Chicago police spokesman.

The 21-year-old, who did not appear to be known to police, had gotten into an argument with two unknown men inside of a retail store, police said. The victim suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen and was listed in serious condition at Stroger Hospital.

The last time a homicide occurred at the jail was in the summer of 2014, Ryan said.

An inmate named Tony Purnell, 42, had been involved in a fight with another inmate at the jail’s Cermak Hospital on

June 23, 2014, said Cara Smith, director of the Cook County Jail, at that time. Jail officers responded immediately, but Purnell already had suffered a severe head injury, and he was taken to Stroger Hospital for treatment.

Purnell was pronounced dead July 22 at 12:47 a.m. at Stroger, and the Cook County medical examiner’s office determined he died from craniocerebral injuries suffered in an assault and ruled his death a homicide, according to the office.

Purnell had been in jail since January of that year, on a disorderly conduct charge.