A 31-year-old man carrying a gun and a knife who was arrested Thursday at a charter school on ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥'s east side told police said he intended "to cause harm" to children, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Police Chief Chad Kasmar said.
Daniel Hollander, 31, was spotted in the school shortly after 9 a.m. "acting erratically" by parents who immediately notified staff at Legacy Traditional School's east campus, 9290 E. Golf Links Road.
Daniel Hollander
Hollander was later located in the school gymnasium "sitting on the floor and talking to himself." He was armed with a concealed firearm and a knife, Kasmar said at a news conference hours after the arrest.
Hollander was in an area filled with students and school staff preparing for the school's picture day, Kasmar said.
William Bonanno, an off-duty ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ police officer who was working on campus as a school safety officer, detained Hollander before ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ police later arrested him, Kasmar said.
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Hollander faces charges of "attempted terrorism, interfering with an educational institution, weapons misconduct on school grounds and first-degree burglary," the police chief said.Â
The preliminary investigation showed Hollander had no connection to the school, "was utilizing narcotics for several days" and admitted to going to the school "to cause harm to the children," Kasmar said at the news conference.Â
The school teaches kindergarten through sixth grade, according to its website.
Chad Kasmar, chief of the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Police Department, at a news conference Thursday describing the arrest of an armed 31-year-old man at an east-side ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ charter school.Â
"As chief, there's a few calls I'm fearful of getting, or moments that I don't want to be in front of cameras talking about. One of those ... are our youth in our country, in our community, being the focus of harm," Kasmar said.
"I can't reiterate how proud I am of our community, the school leadership here, and (Officer Bonanno) ... for all of their frankly courageous actions and engagements. That's how we prevent bad outcomes in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥."
Bonanno was working at the school by way of an ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Department of Education program that supports schools with trained school safety officers, or SSOs, Kasmar said.
"Over the course of the last few years there's been a lot of conversation about whether it's inappropriate to have law enforcement officials within our schools," the chief said. "I can't underscore the importance of having our officers at schools to build connections with our students, with their parents, with our broader community, with school leadership. ... Programs like the SSOs are critical in helping us expand our resources to make sure that we have safe environments for kids to thrive and to learn, and also for our academic (and) professional staff that are at these schools."
