HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (WJAC) — State police say a Bellwood man was charged Monday with multiple misdemeanors and felonies including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping following a domestic dispute which occurred Friday night.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Pennsylvania State Police, 34-year-old Brett Eugene Gates contacted the victim and requested to come to her residence because he was homeless and it was cold. At the time of the incident, troopers say the victim was protected by an active Protection from Abuse (PFA) order against Gates who is currently on probation for a previous PFA violation and has multiple past violations.
State police claim the victim allowed Gates to come over and the two drank and socialized until the early morning when the victim went to her bedroom while Gates stayed in the living room. An unknown time later, the alleged victim told state police she was awoken by Gates who entered the bedroom, turned on the lights, and flipped the mattress and bed frame.
When the victim was tossed to the floor, she fell on top of the revolver she kept unloaded under the bed with ammunition nearby while the two began screaming at each other, according to the criminal complaint.
State police say Gates accused the woman of cheating on him and asked her about a man who had texted her while the victim laid on the floor with a blanket over her head asking him to stop and go to bed. According to the complaint, Gates grabbed the revolver from under her and loaded it before pointing the gun at her and putting it in his mouth multiple times while he contacted a friend known as Frank to vent his frustrations.
Gates said multiple times he would blow the victim’s brains all over the wall and told her she would have to clean his brains off the wall when he blew his head off before demanding she leave the bedroom and lay on a mattress in the living room so he could keep an eye on her, the complaint says. The victim pleaded for Gates to put the gun down as he climbed on top of her and placed the revolver to her head, police say she told them.
At one point the victim even heard the firearm click as if Gates had pulled the trigger but there wasn’t a bullet in one of the five cylinders, according to the complaint.
After Gates fell asleep, the victim was contacted on a cellphone by Frank to see if she was alright and when the victim replied that she was not, he recommended she find the firearm and leave the residence, state police say. The alleged victim found the firearm, left, and went to the State Police station in Hollidaysburg to report what had occurred.
Troopers say they went to the victim’s residence where they found Gates was still there and took him into custody. Gates told State Police that he had contacted the victim via text and phone calls throughout the night Friday, before he went to the victim’s residence where they drank and listened to music, the complaint says.
After the victim went to bed, Gates claimed that he went through her phone and discovered a message from another man, according to state police. Extremely angry, they say Gates admitted to confronting the victim in her bedroom where he turned on the light and flipped the mattress and bed frame onto the victim.
Investigators say Gates confirmed there was a firearm on the floor and he picked it up, but said he only put it on the nightstand.
When troopers contacted Frank on Sunday, they say he related that he had returned Gates’s call Saturday and had been told by Gates that he was going to get the victim’s gun, shoot her, and then shoot himself because the victim had cheated on him. Frank attempted to convince Gates that it was not worth it and he should leave but Gates refused saying she would call the cops and he was going to kill both of them before ending the call, state police say.
Gates was arraigned Monday in Blair County Magisterial Court.
ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7y6iamqRfl7KtuNaopp1lnZa7bq%2FHmqmgnZRixKrAx2aiopyelr2xtc2gZJqmlGKutL%2FArqOtZaOprrWxjKmmpaGTmnq0rdg%3D