Steakhouse owner stabbed to death during gender reveal party and his girlfriend’s son now faces charges
The owner of an Illinois steakhouse was stabbed to death during a gender reveal party — and now his girlfriend’s son is in custody in connection to his killing.
Joshua Kirkwood, the owner of 41 14 Forty One Fourteen Steaks and Seafood in Waukegan, Illinois, was stabbed multiple times Saturday night, the coroner’s office told ABC7. He was later pronounced dead at Vista Medical Center East.
The 51-year-old got into an argument with his girlfriend — the restaurant’s manager — while a gender reveal party was going on downstairs at the steakhouse, according to court documents seen by the outlet.
That’s when two of her sons allegedly got involved. Her 16-year-old son grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Kirkwood multiple times before leaving with his older brother 21-year-old Iziah Gonzalez, WGN9 reported. Gonzalez and his mother were both stabbed in the incident, the outlet reported.
The 21-year-old was booked into Lake County Jail on a murder charge, records show.
His brother and mother are listed as co-defendants in court documents but have not been officially charged, WGN9 reported. The Independent has reached out to the Waukegan Police Department for more information.
Police have recovered the kitchen tool-turned-murder weapon.
Friends and the Waukegan community are mourning the loss of the business owner and gathered for a prayer vigil Monday.
“For something to have happened where that celebration moves to this,” former Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham, a close friend of Kirkwood, told ABC7. “For him to have lost his life in the place where he spent most of his life.”
Kirkwood leaves behind four children, according to the outlet.
“I know how it feels because I lost a child,” he said. “You live with it every day. You can’t get it out of your mind.”
Waukegan resident Jurnee Iverson told the outlet that Kirkwood had wanted a place where the community came together to have “brunch, karaoke, and games,” adding: “He didn’t deserve this and his family didn’t deserve this.”
Many remembered Kirkwood as generous, especially in times of need.
Pastor Julie Contreres recalled his magnanimity during the Covid-19 pandemic: “We watched as he churned out in that fryer, those chicken tenders that fed 400 families on a very cold winter day during the time of Covid with his children.”
