A man with a past violent conviction was detained after he was accused of starting a vehicle fire near Harvard earlier this month and being armed with a butcher knife when authorities arrived, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Aidan O’Donoghue, 24, is charged with arson, a Class 2, according to McHenry County court records. Judge Cynthia Lamb denied him pretrial release from the county jail.

Assistant State’s Attorney William Bruce said that about 2:30 p.m. Oct. 13, police and fire crews arrived to a residential property in Harvard to find a red Toyota Corolla on fire. Three witnesses said O’Donoghue who lives at the property started the fire and had a “large knife on his person,” authorities said.

When police asked O’Donoghue if he had a knife, he pulled a large butcher knife from his waistband, and for about 20 minutes, police with weapons drawn tried to persuade him to drop the knife, Bruce said. But O’Donoghue would not, and an officer shot him in the right shoulder with a nonlethal beanbag, the prosecutor said.

A camera on the property captured images of O’Donoghue going inside the vehicle and starting the fire, Bruce said.

A family member told authorities O’Donoghue suffers from multiple mental health issues and substance abuse. Earlier that day, the family member said, she was driving with him in the same vehicle and he was angry, had a knife and was flickering a lighter, Bruce said.

O’Donoghue was transferred to Mercyhealth Hospital in Harvard, where spoke of his “habitual” methamphetamine use, mental health struggles and thoughts of suicide, but said he didn’t know why he started the fire, Bruce said.

Bruce detailed O’Donoghue’s criminal history, dating back to age 14 when he was charged for retail theft and possession of marijuana. While serving probation for that offense, in 2016 he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and illegal possession of ammunition, the prosecutor said. While that case was pending, he was charged with residential burglary, for which he was given probation, Bruce said, detailing more crimes in the years that followed including theft, armed violence and armed robbery with a firearm.

In 2021, in Marengo, O’Donoghue was charged with, and later convicted of, aggravated battery for lacerating a relative in the head with knife, causing serious injuries, including a six-inch wound behind the relative’s ear, Bruce said. As police responded to the 911 call the line remained open and screaming was heard commanding O’Donoghue to put the knife down. When police arrived he had to be tased in order to get the steak knife away from him.

O’Donoghue’s family told authorities that two weeks prior to this incident, he was carrying around a butcher knife and they “routinely had to hide knives from him,” Bruce said.

After that incident, O’Donoghue was accepted into mental health court “over state’s objection,” Bruce said. But he failed to comply with the specialty court rules like reporting for court-appointed meetings or attending alcohol and substance use and abuse meetings. He also did not follow rules of the homes in which he was placed and was eventually kicked out, Bruce said.

Bruce said O’Donoghue is unwilling and unable to comply with the rules of pretrial release and is a danger to himself and others, including police and firefighters. Over Assistant Public Defender David Giesinger’s objection, Lamb agreed to detain O’Donoghue pretrial.