Angry Neighbor Kicks In Wrong Neighbor's Door: Prosecutor

OAK LAWN, IL -- An Oak Lawn man who was angry at his neighbor kicked in a door and walked into apartment carrying a knife, except that it was the wrong neighbor, prosecutors said. Michael Szczecinski, 61, appeared before Cook County Judge Peter Felice on a felony charge of criminal trespass to property. He was also charged with misdemeanor aggravated battery with a weapon.

Oak Lawn police responded to a suspicious person who had entered his neighbor’s apartment around 10:30 p.m. Nov. 29, in the 4300 block of West 95th Street. The man who lived there was playing video games when Szczecinski reportedly strolled in holding a three-inch folding knife. Szczecinski asked if his neighbor was there and the man told him the person he was looking for lived next door, the prosecutor said. He then asked the man for a beer. As Szczecinski was presumably drinking the beer, the man locked himself in his bedroom and called 911. Police said Szczecinski was leaving the apartment when officers arrived. The knife was recovered from the scene.

Earlier that evening Oak Lawn police had gone to the same apartment, where Szczecinski allegedly kicked in the same neighbor’s door. The assistant public defender told the judge that Szczecinski lived in the same building and that the dispute with his other neighbor was starting to get the better of him. He said that Szczecinski was bipolar and suffered from a traumatic brain injury when he was younger.

The prosecutor said Szczecinski was on conditional discharge for aggravated assault and discharge of a deadly weapon in May. Bail was set at $30,000. Szczecinski is due back in court Dec. 21 in Bridgeview.