Dad Says Boy on Playground Threatened Him with Wrench

A Wauwatosa man reported Monday that he was threatened by a teenager wielding a large wrench on the playground at Madison Elementary School, 9925 W. Glendale Ave.

He said that he and his wife had ridden bikes there with their two children to play, and at about 4 p.m. a group of teenagers on bicycles showed up and began riding on the playground, and then on the equipment itself.

The man said that one of the teens came near to striking his daughter, and he yelled at him to stay off the playground with his bike. The boy glared at him, he said, and continued to ride around the play equipment.

A few minutes later, the teen hit a piece of equipment with his bike and began cursing loudly. Again, the man asked him to leave, but the youth only yelled back at him. He did, however, leave the equipment, but continued to ride around, circling the playground.

Then the man heard his wife yell to him, and he turned to see the youth approaching him with a wrench held menacingly over his head. The man retreated to his own bike, at which point the teenager suddenly turned and ran away. The man said the youth might have thought he had a weapon in his bike bag.

He described the youth as black with a dark complexion, 16 to 18 years old, and about 6 feet tall with a medium build, last seen wearing a purple T-shirt. A subject matching that description was spotted near North 104^th Street and West Hampton Avenue, but he ran off again before police could cut him off.

The bicycle he abandoned, a red BMX Aerial Assault model, was collected but was not listed as stolen.