A 16-year-old Columbus teen has been waived to adult court, accused of two felony intimidation charges involving threatening to kill another individual with what appeared to be a revolver, but was later determined to be a BB gun.
Tyler L. Howard, 16, 2615 Lafayette Ave., was arrested Thursday on a warrant on the charges by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department. He was being held in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $35,000 bond, jail officials said.
The case was filed directing into adult court by Bartholomew County Deputy Prosecuting Lindsey Kay on Thursday.
Kay explained the reason Howard is being tried in adult court is that he was previously waived to adult court in Jackson County. Once a juvenile is waived, the juvenile court no longer has jurisdiction over any subsequent felony charges the juvenile faces, Kay said in an email explaining the procedure.
Columbus police officers were sent to a Columbus address on May 29 about a gun being used in a disturbance, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Columbus Police Sgt. Ben Goodin.
The victim told Goodin that Howard arrived at his residence as a passenger in a late 1990s Ford truck and asked him to provide drugs, court documents state.
The victim said he was not involved in that lifestyle anymore, court documents state. Howard then is accused of loading a clip into what appeared to be a handgun and racking the slide, court documents state.
Howard is accused of pointing the gun at the victim and threatening to kill him if he didn’t provide Howard with drugs, court documents state. The victim backed away from the truck and the driver and Howard drove off, court documents stated.
The truck then passed the residence again and Howard threatened to shoot everyone who was on the porch, court documents said.
Another Columbus police officer located the truck as it entered Clifty Park and stopped near a trash receptacle, court records state. The officer identified the driver and Howard and asked where the gun was.
The driver first said he didn’t know, but then said it was in the trash receptacle. The officer found a silver and black handgun in the trash, and then determined it was a BB gun, court documents state.
The BB gun resembled a large caliber 6-shooter revolver, court documents stated. Goodin wrote in the probable cause affidavit that the weapon looked very realistic and in his opinion, no one would recognize it as a BB gun without physically handling it and inspecting it.
Officers later learned Howard had recently been waived to adult court on a felony auto theft and attempted robbery charges in Jackson Circuit Court in Seymour.
For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
