On Wednesday, a federal judge in Chicago ordered an alleged assailant’s release – over stern objections from prosecutors – following nine-hour knifepoint standoff.
The NBC 5 Investigates team has learned that a man authorities consider dangerous to the public is being released from custody by a Chicago federal judge.
The case had involved a man who put a knife to his own throat last month in the lobby of the Dirksen federal building, causing a day-long lockdown.
This week, that man was ordered released from custody.
When dozens of special weapons tactical teams deployed to 219 S. Dearborn St. in Chicago’s Loop a month ago, they were confronted with 38-year-old Mario Santoyo, who held a knife to his neck. He was also carrying a bag they feared might contain a bomb.
After hours of seeking his surrender, officers subdued Santoyo and took him into custody.
According to photographs obtained on Wednesday by NBC 5 Investigates, Santoyo wrote a cryptic “help” on the Northwestern Memorial Hospital emergency room wall–in his own blood. Authorities say the blood was smeared on the ER wall after Santoyo stabbed his neck with a nurse call device and tried to strangle himself with the call button cord.
In an exclusive interview this week new U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said he personally ordered felony charges against Santoyo versus lesser misdemeanor counts because of the seriousness of the behavior.
“That individual brought the wheels of justice to a grinding halt on that day because the entire building had to be evacuated for various safety reasons, to and including the fact that there was a duffel bag that was unclear what was in it,” Boutros said. “So obviously, when people bring the can have that type of impact, it’s important to send a message that that type of criminal activity won’t be tolerated.”
But Wednesday a different message was delivered from U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland who has ordered Santoyo’s immediate release from the federal lockup in Chicago.
Rowland said he is not a threat to others, but possibly himself.
Santoro has an arrest record dating back more than ten years, with officials citing assault, drug violations and other charges. He will now be on electronic monitoring and in the custody of his sister who was in court for Wednesday afternoon’s hearing but declined comment.
The judge’s actions dismissed a motion by prosecutors, who stated: “There are no combination of conditions that can assure that the defendant will not pose a serious risk of danger to the community, and he should be detained.”
There was no immediate reaction Wednesday to the defendant’s release from Boutros or his office. But during a Monday interview with NBC Chicago, he had pointed comments about the incident.
“We had bomb squads that had to come in Chuck. We had negotiators that had to come in, we had a SWAT team that had to come in,” Boutros said. “I mean, this was a high, intense moment, because it was unclear what was happening.”
Prosecutors and Santoyo’s attorney say that he never directly threatened to hurt anyone that day in the lobby of the federal building. However, while in the ER, investigators say it took eight hospital security guards to subdue a combative Santoyo and three injections of a sedative.
Judge Mary Rowland did put a few other restrictions on Santoyo during his release, including mental health treatment and an order that he not come near the federal building.