- West Virginia, USA -
On the afternoon of Friday, August 20, a West Virginia State Trooper and a Raleigh County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to a call about shots being fired on Farley Branch Road.
On the scene officers found 57-years-old MARTIN HOWARD CRAWFORD (pictured below) “with a loaded Remington 870, 12-gauge shotgun, a loaded Glock 36 .45 caliber handgun and two additional loaded Glock 36 magazines”, reports The West Virginia Daily News.
After officers secured the weapons, they placed CRAWFORD in hand restraints, and then interviewed witnesses about the incident.
One of the witnesses told officers that CRAWFORD had fired a gun multiple times near her home. Furthermore, he threatened to kill her, her family, and the nearby horses if they called the police on him.
CRAWFORD then threatened another witness and said: “If I see one cop I’m going to come out shooting and everyone is going to be dead.”
According to witnesses CRAWFORD then started firing his shotgun at the horses and stated that he had been drinking vodka most of the day.
The arresting officer reported that he could smell alcohol “emitting from the accused and also observed him to display bloodshot, glassy eyes and slurred speech.”
“A small pellet fired from a shotgun [was found] buried in the skin of one of the horses”, stated the criminal complaint filed in Raleigh County.
CRAWFORD, of Cool Ridge, was booked at Southern Regional Jail on one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty, one misdemeanor count of shooting across a road or near a building, one misdemeanor count of being a prohibited person with a firearm, one misdemeanor count of obstructing an officer, two misdemeanor counts of assault, and three felony counts of wanton endangerment.
His bond has been set at $75,000.
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