BUCKHANNON – An Upshur County man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly brandishing a gun and pointing it at a woman’s head during an altercation involving four people.
Timothy A. Wallen, 43, of Buckhannon, was arrested for three counts of wanton endangerment involving a firearm, a felony.
According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by Upshur County Sheriff’s deputy T.R. Collins, the incident occurred Wednesday, April 20 at a residence on Tahoe Street. Wallen and three other individuals – another man and two women – were inside the residence when all four became involved in an argument “over belongings and [one of the women] moving out,” the file says.
The other three individuals informed Collins, the investigating officer, that “Mr. Wallen had reached behind his back, pulled out a black handgun and pointed it in the face of [one of the women],” according to the police report.
The woman who had planned to move out reportedly ran back to her bedroom, later telling police Wallen had told her in the past “that he always carries a round in the chamber,” the file states. Another individual told Collins he attempted to pull the victim away from Wallen and the firearm. The woman at whom Wallen had pointed the gun told deputies she feared for her life.
Collins later recovered a Hi-Point firearm from inside the residence, according to the report.
Upshur County Magistrate Alan Suder set bail at $45,000 cash or surety.
The penalty for a conviction on each count of wanton endangerment involving a firearm is imprisonment in the penitentiary for a definite term of one to five years, or, in the discretion of the court, confinement in a regional jail for up to one year, a fine ranging between $250 and $2,500, or both.
