EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — A northeastern Pennsylvania man faces charges after he allegedly threatened several Jehovah's Witnesses with a semi-automatic rifle and fired shots into the ground.
Witnesses at a preliminary hearing Thursday said 59-year-old William Kalapach felt the Jehovah's Witnesses weren't leaving his Price Township property quickly enough after he asked them to last month.
The Pocono Record reports Kalapach's wife, Rhonda, initially answered the door and told the visitors she and her husband weren't interested. Witnesses say William Kalapach later got the rifle, pointed it in the direction of the visitors and fired four times into his lawn as they drove away.
A district judge upheld charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and terroristic threats against Kalapach. His wife says he has health issues and was upset about the death of his mother.
http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/56cc94654fca4a51a5100ac652ccc08c/PA--Jehovahs-Witnesses-Gunshots/-----
Kalapach's wife, Rhonda, answered the door and politely told the visitors she and her husband are devout Catholics and that they weren't interested. She told them her husband, a retired truck driver with health issues, was upset over his mother's recent death and it wasn't a good time for strangers to be visiting.
At that point, William Kalapach had come to within a few feet of the visitors and was still yelling, telling them to leave. The visitors told him they were doing just that as they walked back to their car.
"You're not leaving fast enough," Kalapach said, according to testimony. "You think I'm kidding? I'm going to get my gun."
Kalapach then went to the garage, got the rifle and began walking toward them, pointing the rifle in their direction, Tia-Rosa Stitch said. The visitors got back into their car and, as they began driving away, Kalapach fired the rifle four times into his lawn.
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110520/NEWS/105200338/-1/NEWSAHole! Take his guns away!