A man was charged with stabbing his father to death following an argument Tuesday evening in their apartment in the Northwest Side Portage Park neighborhood. 
Brandon Haarman, 27, of the 3900 block of North Long Avenue, was charged with one count of first-degree murder, police said.
Officers were called to the 3900 block of North Long Avenue, where they found Jim Haarman stabbed to death about 6:20 p.m., authorities said.
Investigators released few details about the elder Haarman’s death, though police did say he was stabbed multiple times by his son following an argument.
Ed Boone, a neighbor who lives in the garden unit below where the fatal stabbing occurred, said he had heard arguments, loud noises and swearing from Haarman’s apartment several times a week, but that had stopped about four weeks ago after neighbors complained.
But on Tuesday evening, Boone said: “I heard fighting and swearing.”
Then he looked outside and saw Brandon Haarman smeared with blood.
Boone said he initially turned his TV down and thought about going upstairs during the fight, but he decided not to intervene. Asked if he regretted his decision, Boone said, “Kind of, but, then again, I’m not sure because of the possibility that … maybe he would have tried to take me out.”
Karen Kerber, who lives upstairs, got home about 5:30 p.m. and heard a voice yelling from the apartment where the stabbing occurred. “I just thought, ‘Here we go again.’ ”
“I’m just in shock. I can’t believe it,” Kerber said about the killing.
“Jim was such a nice guy who went out of his way to help us. He was always helping my daughter with her car, if her tires were low or if he was washing his car he’d wash her car too. And he’d call to remind us about street cleaning,” she said.
Haarman is expected to appear Thursday in bond court.
- Sun-Times Media Wire