Horne critical of light sentence for armed Tucson school intruder

Says criminal should have faced more prison time

TUCSON – 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 today’s sentence of 18 months in prison followed by probation.

Daniel Hollander was arrested in January after breaking into an east Tucson school. He was armed with a gun and knife and was confronted and arrested by Tucson Police Officer William Bonanno, a school safety officer who had recently been assigned to the campus. Hollander was quoted as saying he intended to kill children and make them famous.

Horne issued this statement:

“In the sentencing at Pima County Superior Court today 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. 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, 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.

I have increased the number of police officers in our schools in the last two years from 190 to 585. Just prior to this incident, we found some unused funds and reopened opportunities to apply for grants, which 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. This is my worst nightmare.”