Cleaner at South Elgin District U-46 school charged after threatening minors with knife
South Elgin police said a man working as a contracted cleaner at a District U-46 school was arrested and charged after he threatened minors with a knife Tuesday evening.
Police said around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, officers were called to a school in the 700 block of Mill Street in South Elgin for a report of a man with a weapon in the building.
When they arrived, officers met with two minors and a relative who told them the minors had been riding electric sooters through the school's parking lot when a car pulled in, cutting them off.
An argument ensued and the driver and the minors went their separate ways. Police said the two minors returned a short time later to take a picture of the vehicle's license plate. That's when a 43-year-old man came out of the building and confronted them, according to police.
During this confrontation, the man allegedly threatened the minors while brandishing a pocketknife and approaching them. The minors ran away and called police.
Police say that man was the same person they had initially been involved in the argument with.
The man is a contracted cleaner with HES, which works at the school, but not a District U-46 employee, district officials said.
The man was found near his car and taken into custody without issue, police said. He was charged with one count of aggravated assault on public property and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, both misdemeanors.
He appeared in court and was released from custody with a course date. He has also been issued a trespass notice and prohibited from entering any School District U-46 property, police said.
