State schools chief Tom Horne says the armed Tucson man who broke into school grounds vowing to kill children at an east Tucson campus earlier this year deserves more punishment than a sentence of 18 months in prison followed by probation.
Daniel Hollander was arrested in January after breaking into Legacy Traditional School-East Tucson. He was armed with a gun and knife and was confronted and arrested by Tucson Police Officer William Bonanno.
Hollander was quoted as saying he intended to kill children and make them famous.
“In the sentencing at Pima County Superior Court it came out that the prosecutor had recommended only one year in prison followed by 10 years of probation for someone who went into a school with a gun and a knife threatening to kill 20 students,” stated Horne. “The judge increased it to 18 months but could not do more in view of the prosecutor’s recommendation. As a former Attorney General I know that the public is entitled to be protected from people like this defendant. Probation is not perfect. If this individual has a bad day, he could go into a school and kill students. In my opinion the prosecutor’s recommendation should have been at least 20 years in prison to protect our children.”
“In this case,” continued Horne, “we avoided that tragedy by the skin of our teeth. Tucson Police Officer William Bonanno was the safety officer on campus. He was hired just two weeks before the incident. He is experienced and brave, and after being alerted to a problem on campus, checked an open door, and found the would-be perpetrator with a gun and a knife. Because of his experience and courage, he did not wait for back up but immediately arrested the individual.”
Horne’s administration has increased the number of police officers in our schools in the last two years from 190 to 585. Just prior to this incident, the Arizona Department of Education found some unused funds and reopened opportunities to apply for grants.
Horne says that funding discovery is how funds were available to hire Officer Bonanno.
“I urge the schools to consider that a maniac could invade a school and kill 20 students as has happened in other states and could happen here,” stated Horne. “This is my worst nightmare.”
Hollander faced charges of attempted terrorism, interfering with an educational institution, weapons misconduct-school grounds, and burglary.
Officer Bonanno’s services are provided to the school through funding from the Arizona Department of Education’s school safety program.
In Tucson/Pima County, the official position seems to be if you can’t kill the babies in the womb, let the illegals and crazies rape and kill them on the streets and in the schools.
Parents – get your children out of Tucson/Pima County. They are NOT safe and authorities couldn’t give a crap.
Laura Conover coddling criminals again.
In Pima county, its a wonder he was not back on the streets the next day on his own recognisance. What a joke Pima county prosecutors and their boss really are…..let alone the judges……no need to say more about the lost cause of Pima County.
“… but could not do more in view of the prosecutor’s recommendation.”
Why is it that some judges seem to have their hands tied, while other judges do whatever they d*mn well please? I bet if this guy had been a blue-collar church-going father of 3 who volunteers at Christmas soup kitchens and who was peacefully CCW’ing as he dropped his kids off at school, they would have built a jail with no doors around him.
WTH IS GOING ON?
That prosecutor is only doing what his boss, the county attorney, tells him to do. Why not mention who that is (hint Pima County)?
YES!….Laura Con-U-Over, PimaCo’s Soros C.A. She is racking up the Karmic baggage for herself, big-time.