SWAT called out to quell tenant disturbance
A Chicago-area tenant went ballistic when deputies tried to serve an eviction notice a few days before Thanksgiving.
When a deputy approached the rental property, the man bolted the doors and told police he was holding his girlfriend hostage inside the home. He then claimed to have explosives and threatened to blow up the house.
SWAT officers were forced to fire rounds into the home after several hours of negotiation failed to coax the man out of the property.
The gunfire appeared to frighten the tenant into complying with police, and he was then arrested. The police are reporting that the man had an outstanding warrant for previous violent behavior.
A hearing on the eviction was not scheduled to take place for another couple of weeks.
This case underscores the crucial need to run criminal background checks on all tenants, as well as eviction reports. If another tenant or neighbor is injured by a tenant with a prior criminal history that includes violence, the landlord may be accused of negligence for allowing a dangerous person onto the rental property.
This post is provided by Tenant Verification Service, Inc., helping landlords reduce the risks of renting with fraud prevention tools that include Tenant Screening, Tenant Background Checks, (U.S. and Canada), as well as Criminal Background Checks, and Eviction Reports (U.S. only).
Click Here to Receive Landlord Credit Reports.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this post in not intended to be construed as legal advice, nor should it be considered a substitute for obtaining individual legal counsel or consulting your local, state, federal or provincial tenancy laws.
