A Chicago Man Faces Federal Charges After Courthouse Standoff
A Chicago man has been federally charged after allegedly triggering a nine-and-a-half-hour standoff inside the city’s main federal courthouse earlier this week.
Mario Santoyo, 38, is accused of entering the Dirksen Federal Building at 219 South Dearborn Street around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 22, seeking to speak with the FBI about people he claimed were trying to kill him. According to a federal complaint, when a court security officer told him the FBI doesn’t have an office there and he needed to leave, Santoyo pulled a knife and held it to his throat, threatening to harm himself.
His actions triggered a massive law enforcement response that forced the evacuation of the courthouse, halted ongoing trials and hearings, and effectively shut down federal operations in the building for the day, officials said.
Authorities say Santoyo remained in the lobby with the knife and a dark bag of unknown contents until federal officers used non-lethal force to take him into custody at 7:55 p.m. He was transported to a hospital for treatment.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors charged Santoyo with possession of a dangerous weapon in a federal facility with intent to use it in the commission of a crime. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. A judge ordered him held in federal custody pending a detention hearing set for this Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros condemned the disruption caused by the incident, calling it an attack on the functioning of federal justice: “There will be zero tolerance for violence against federal officials or the work of the federal government,” he said in a written statement.
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