Scranton Times Tribune | By Denis J. O'Malley
Angry over his girlfriend's untidy apartment in the Valley View Housing Complex late Tuesday, Gary Williams pointed a rifle at her and shot one round into the wall behind her head as her 8-year-old son stood by.
If she didn't start cleaning he would "blow her brains out," Mr. Williams told his girlfriend, Gloria Soto, according to a criminal complaint.
After Mr. Williams hit her in the head with the weapon's butt stock a few times, Ms. Soto barricaded herself in her bedroom with her son, according to the complaint.
When Mr. Williams burst in the room and asked who Ms. Soto was speaking to on the phone, she told him a 911 dispatcher and he threw on a pair of shoes and disappeared, according to the compliant.
By that point a swarm of Scranton Police Officers had already surrounded the building, 1040 Genet St., 13E, and when Mr. Williams ran out they were quickly after him.
He got as far as a nearby fence which he began to climb before a handful of police officers pointed their guns at him. He then changed his mind and lay down to be arrested, according to the complaint.
Mr. Williams was then transported to police headquarters while officers spoke to Ms. Soto and combed through her apartment for evidence, according to the complaint.
Though the officers seized both spent and live eight-millimeter rifle cartridges and found a bullet hole where Mr. Williams shot the weapon toward his girlfriend, the gun was not recovered, according to the complaint.
After Ms. Soto provided a statement of the night's events, police charged Mr. Williams with two counts each of aggravated assault, terroristic threats, and simple assault as well as one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure among a slew of related charges.
A check of Mr. Williams' criminal history turned up two active protection from abuse orders against him, according to the complaint, which prohibited him from owning a gun.
Arraignment information was unavailable Wednesday morning.
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