A Glenview man charged with attempted murder and assault in what police say were two unprovoked attacks was released from jail Thursday after posting bail.
Michael J. Stientjes, 26, of the 1000 block of Raleigh Road, Glenview, was released Thursday following a brief hearing at the Skokie courthouse. His bond was set at $500,000. Conditions of his release include staying away from the two victims of the alleged June 21 attacks that occurred not far from Stientjes’s home.
Prosecutors say Stientjes attacked a 61-year-old woman with a 22-pound boulder and assaulted a utility worker the morning of June 21. An additional charge of felony aggravated battery on a police officer was filed Friday in connection with the same incident, authorities said.
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“The family is very concerned for the victim as well as their son,” said defense attorney Marc Gottreich on Friday. “This is something completely out of character. There’s clearly a mental health component.”
Shortly after 10 a.m. on June 21, Glenview police received a 911 call reporting the battery of a utility worker on Stientjes’s property in the 1000 block of Raleigh Road. Stientjes came out of his home, approached the utility worker and pushed him, then “smacked” tools out of the worker’s hand before walking away, prosecutors said last week. The worker called 911.
Less than 15 minutes later, Glenview police received another 911 call reporting that a man, later identified as Stientjes, was hitting a female pedestrian with a chair and a 22-pound boulder at Waukegan and Glenview roads, police said.
The 61-year-old woman was walking to a nail salon when Stientjes approached her, started taking to her, then picked up a chair and began striking her, prosecutors said. Stientjes threw the woman into a tree causing her to cry out for help, prosecutors said.
Stientjes then picked up a 22-pound landscaping boulder, held it over his head and threw it, striking the woman in the head and causing her to fall to the ground, prosecutors said. Stientjes then stood over the woman, picked up the boulder again and threw it in her direction, but missed, prosecutors said.
Stientjes once again picked up the boulder but a witness tackled him as other people came to help and called 911, prosecutors said.
Police said Stientjes did not know the woman or the utility worker.
The woman was treated for a skull fracture, bleeding from the ear and a contusion with a hematoma on her forehead, prosecutors said. She was released from the hospital but it was not known if she will need further surgery.
Stientjes is next scheduled to appear in court July 13 for a preliminary hearing.
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter.