BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Palo Alto police have arrested a man who allegedly fired a pellet gun at a school employee.
Bradford Minkoff, 67, of Palo Alto, allegedly fired the pellet gun around 7 a.m. on Oct. 14 onto the Stratford School campus at 870 N. California Ave., police said today (Oct. 19).
The tension between Minkoff and the school goes back to October 2020, when Minkoff allegedly threatened to shoot a janitor.
Minkoff was arrested on Sept. 3, 2021, for shooting a BB gun over his backyard fence at students playing handball, leaving an 11-year-old boy with a welt.
A Santa Clara County judge dismissed the charges in January 2023 and ordered Minkoff to go to therapy.
Police responded again on Aug. 2, 2024, after Minkoff allegedly shouted profanities at students from his house at at 865 Garland Drive.
Minkoff used explosives to start a “large fire” in his backyard two weeks later, Head of School Sheila Pereira said in a restraining order application.
Smoke covered the playground, and all school employees were evacuated, Pereira said.
The school obtained a restraining order against Minkoff, who is now facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon, willful and negligent discharge of a BB device and violation of a protective order.
Minkoff’s former attorney Dan Barton previously said Minkoff lost all human connection when the pandemic started, aside from with his mom, and became obsessed with getting the school to be quieter.
“Both in his mind and in his environment, Brad had no peace and no escape from his discomfort,” Barton said in a motion.
Minkoff acted as Rum Tum Tugger in “Cats” on Broadway in the 1980s. His brother is Rob Minkoff, the director of “The Lion King” and “Stuart Little.”
A real nice piece of work!