First witness testifies in trial of Naperville man accused of killing teacher

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (WLS) -- Prosecutors called their first witnesses Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of stabbing and killing an elementary school teacher at a bar in Naperville back in 2012.

Daniel Olaska is charged with murder in the death of Shaun Wild.

Police and paramedics rushed to the Frankie's Blue Room in downtown Naperville just before 1 a.m. on a snowy February night three years ago. They wheeled 24-year-old Wild out to the ambulance. The second grade teacher had been stabbed in the heart.

A short time later police brought Olaska, 27, out in handcuffs. Prosecutors say he stabbed Wild and two others during a rampage in the bar because he was upset at being turned away by a girl.

Prosecutor Bernie Murray told the jury "he was an angry man. He'd been buying drinks for a girl and she rejected him." That girl, 26-year-old Sarah Schwenn, was the first witness. She recalled dancing with Olaska, but then telling him she was not interested in him. She called him a little creepy. She later identified the shirt he'd been wearing that night, which was later covered in blood after the stabbings.

Defense attorneys don't deny that Olaska stabbed the men, but they say it was in self-defense after a group of former North Central College football players - including Wild and his friend Willie Hayes - threatened him.

Ernie DiBenedetto told jurors, "This man never wanted to hurt anybody, he acted out of fear from men who wanted to do him harm."

Prosecutors say Olaska first stabbed Hayes after an argument in a booth at the bar, then tried to run out, but Wild chased after him. Olaska allegedly turned and stabbed Wild, killing him.

Prosecutors say the third man stabbed was a bouncer at the bar. Jurors will also be reviewing hours worth of surveillance footage from the bar to determine whether the case was premeditated murder or self defense. The trial is expected to last about a week.