Jury Acquits Man of Threatening Children

A37-year-old Woodland Hills man was acquitted Thursday of threatening to fire an AK-47 assault rifle at noisy schoolchildren he claimed were disrupting the sleep of his old, sick father.

A Van Nuys Superior Court jury deliberated just over a day before finding Michael Munt not guilty of one felony count of threatening a school official.

Munt had been accused of threatening officials at Calabash Street Elementary School, across the street from his house, on Sept. 18, 1989.

The school’s office manager, Helene Goldman, testified that Munt came to the school and warned her to keep the children quiet or he would return with an assault rifle.

School officials moved the children indoors, said Deputy Dist. Atty. David Campbell, the prosecutor.

They took the threat seriously because earlier that year a drifter shot 30 children, killing five, with an assault rifle at a Stockton elementary school.

Munt testified that he did not own an AK-47 rifle and did not threaten school officials but merely asked them to quiet shrieking schoolchildren so his father could rest.

He said school officials made up the accusation in retaliation for his repeated complaints about noise from the school.

Munt’s father had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer five months earlier, Campbell said.

He died of the disease on Oct. 11, 1989.

A search of Munt’s residence by police found no weapon, Campbell said.