Police arrested a 67-year-old Palo Alto man after he allegedly fired a pellet gun toward a staff member at Stratford School on North California Avenue, police said.
Bradford Minkoff was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, a felony, according to an Oct. 19 Palo Alto Police Department news release. He also faces two misdemeanor counts: willful discharge of a BB device with gross negligence and violation of a protective order.
The incident happened Wednesday, Oct. 14, at about 7:10 a.m. A male staff member in his 30s was walking on the campus in the 800 block of North California Avenue when he heard a projectile strike a nearby wall, police said. He looked toward the sound and saw a man peering over a fence separating the campus from a residence on Garland Drive.
The projectile did not hit the staff member, police said. No students were on campus because the incident occurred before school hours.
The staff member recognized Minkoff from previous encounters, police said. Officers also learned that the school had an active restraining order against him.
Officers went to Minkoff’s home in the 800 block of Garland Drive. Following a brief negotiation, he came outside and surrendered, police said. According to the department, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office reviewed the case and filed the charges.
Prior confrontations with the school
The Palo Alto Daily Post reported earlier alleged confrontations between Minkoff and Stratford School.
Minkoff was arrested Sept. 3, 2021, for allegedly shooting a BB gun over his backyard fence at students, leaving an 11-year-old boy with a welt, the Post reported. A Santa Clara County judge dismissed those charges in January 2023 and ordered Minkoff to attend therapy, according to the newspaper.
The Post also reported that Head of School Sheila Pereira described a backyard fire in a restraining-order application. Pereira said Minkoff started the fire and that smoke spread over the playground, prompting school employees to evacuate.
Minkoff’s former attorney Dan Barton attributed his client’s behavior to pandemic-era isolation. “Both in his mind and in his environment, Brad had no peace and no escape from his discomfort,” Barton said in a court motion, the Post reported.
Police said the school’s restraining order was active when the Oct. 14 incident occurred.
Anyone with information can call the Palo Alto Police Department’s dispatch center at 650-329-2413 or text the keyword PAPD and a tip to 847411.
