La Grange Highlands man who threatened to kill police chief arrested in Riverside

RIVERSIDE - A La Grange Highlands man who has threatened to kill Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel and other Riverside police officers was arrested Tuesday and charged with trespassing after he allegedly tried to break into a house in which he lived two decades ago, according to a Riverside Police Department news release.

Lawrence M. O’Keefe, 71, of the 6400 block of Joliet Road, was arrested after police received received a 911 call at 9:04 a.m. reporting a burglary in progress in the 200 block of East Quincy Street.

The homeowner said someone was trying to enter the back door and recognized the man as the same person who has been coming to the house over a period of time. O’Keefe never entered the home.

O’Keefe pled guilty in 2020 for threatening to kill Weitzel. He also has been arrested for threatening public officials in Oak Brook and in Hillside, police said.

When police arrived, they arrested O’Keefe in the rear yard. He was identified by the homeowner as the person who had been trying to get in the home through the back door several times in past months, police said.

O’Keefe allegedly took a cab from La Grange to Riverside on Wednesday to get to the house in which he lived approximately 20 years ago. He had been warned numerous times, both verbally and via written trespass ordinance, not to go onto the property, but ignored the warnings, police said.

Police on Monday were called for a burglary in progress to the same house. In that incident, O’Keefe reportedly fled the scene before police arrived. However, he matched the description, including wearing the same clothes, in the Monday incident when he was arrested on Wednesday.