By Wes Venteicher
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — A Chicago man was charged with several crimes Tuesday after he allegedly brandished an ice pick at a Riverside police officer and threatened to stab him with it while yelling, “You are all Freemasons and need to die,” police said.
Jaime Cantellano, 21, of the 5400 block of South Keeler Avenue, produced the tool and confronted an officer who was responding to a 911 call at a home on the 300 block of Shenstone Road, a Riverside Police Department report states.
The officer raised his handgun and Cantellano fled, according to the report. More officers responded, in a chase that led them past Blythe Park Elementary School to the 400 block of Blythe Road, where officers surrounded the man in a yard and subdued him with a Taser after a struggle, Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said.
Cantellano was transported to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn for a physical evaluation — standard practice after Taser use — and for a psychological evaluation, Weitzel said.
Cantellano worked at the Shenstone Road property as a landscaper about a year ago, Weitzel said. During that time he formed the opinion that the residents were Freemasons, which is false, Weitzel said. Cantellano expressed a “complete hatred” of Freemasons, calling all Riverside residents members of the fraternal group, Weitzel said.
“I do believe that if the homeowner had actually come out when this kid rang the doorbell, his intent could have been to harm somebody in that house,” Weitzel said.
Cantellano was charged with felony aggravated assault to a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, criminal trespass to land, battery to a police officer and unlawful use of a weapon, according to the news release.
A Cook County judge at the Maybrook courthouse ordered that Cantellano be restricted to his home and that his location be monitored electronically, Weitzel said in an email. His bond to be released from home monitoring was set at $10,000. Weitzel said he objected to the bond, arguing the conditions should be stricter.
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