Man with machete near school not arrested
Police say a man was showing off a machete near a Colorado Springs school, but he wasn’t arrested.
It happened on Tuesday (2/11/13) on Wahsatch near Nevada outside Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy when students were leaving school.
The school sent a letter Tuesday night to parents letting them know about the incident. Police say the man was never on school grounds, but parents are still worried.
Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy parents and staff are keeping a close eye on their children.
“You shouldn’t be allowed near, that close to the school with a weapon like that,” said parent Danielle Walker.
The school says someone noticed a suspicious man across the street minutes before students were released on Tuesday. They asked the man to leave. Police say he pulled out a machete.
“For this neighborhood, it’s seems kind of average, every day something that would happen,” said neighbor Robert Muntt.
The officer on campus for after-school traffic and the school resource officer made sure the man left the area. Then, they called for backup.
“That was a key piece in our response here,” said Mullaney.
Students were released about 10 minutes later. The man with a machete showed up again.
When police first saw the man, he was in a shopping center parking lot near the school, but by the time officers turned around they were able to stop and talk to the man at a mobile home parking lot across the street from the school.
Police say the man did not break any laws by having a machete out in the open and he was not on school grounds, but parent Danielle Walker says he was too close.
“The elementary students, they are walking home or across the street or they’re walking from the school with no adult supervision. And it just makes you worry when there are people like that wondering around across the street,” said Walker.
However, the school insists there was no need to worry.
“He had never been on school property, but had even moved out of the area and we had a uniformed Colorado Springs Police Officer right there. So the threat had moved away,” said Mullaney.
