Murder charge filed in fatal Richard’s Bar stabbing

Charges have been filed after Kenneth Paterimos was killed in a stabbing Feb. 21, 2020, near Richard’s Bar, 401 N. Milwaukee Ave., in West Town. | Carly Behm/Sun-Times

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran has been charged in connection with the fatal stabbing last month of a 23-year-old barista outside Richard’s Bar in West Town, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said Wednesday.

Thomas Tansey, 30, faces a count a first-degree murder in the death of Kenneth Paterimos, according to state’s attorney’s office spokeswoman Aviva Bowen.

Chicago police said he was taken into custody for questioning just hours earlier.

Tansey is scheduled for a bail hearing on Thursday.

Last week, a Cook County judge issued a no-bail arrest warrant for Tansey, but he wasn’t in police custody until Wednesday.

Tansey was initially arrested Feb. 21 after allegedly stabbing Paterimos multiple times outside the bar in the 400 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, police said, but was later released without charges after he claimed self-defense in the attack.

Family of Kenneth Paterimos, stand in front of Richard’s Bar, demanding justice, Tuesday, March 3, 2020. Kenneth was fatally stabbed outside Richard’s Bar last month.

Tansey was previously convicted of battery when he tried to strike a man with a handgun that he was unlawfully carrying in 2016 and pushed the man to the ground, according to court records.

On Tuesday, family of Paterimos gathered outside Richard’s Bar and chanted “justice for Kenny.”

Paterimos’ family says the suspect in the killing yelled a homophobic slur at Paterimos before stabbing him multiple times outside the bar.