CLEARFIELD – An accused gunman has been jailed after threatening to shoot his wife and nephew during a domestic dispute that escalated into an approximately two-hour armed standoff with police Wednesday morning at 77 Spruce Grove Ln., Clearfield.
Peter Angus Cain Jr., 43, of Clearfield is facing charges of aggravated assault; assault of law enforcement officer; simple assault; terroristic threats; discharge of firearm into occupied structure; recklessly endangering another person; and criminal mischief.
Cain was arraigned Wednesday morning by Magisterial District Judge Richard Ireland. His bail has been set at $100,000 monetary. Cain’s preliminary hearing has been set for 12 p.m. Nov. 21 before Ireland at the Clearfield County Jail, according to court documents.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Clearfield Borough police were dispatched to a domestic dispute at 4:46 a.m. after a woman reported her husband (Cain) wouldn’t allow her back inside their residence and threatened to shoot anyone who tried to get inside. The woman had her nephew with her when she arrived at the residence.
Police requested assistance from the Clearfield-based state police who spoke with the woman. She said earlier in the evening, she and Cain argued, because he wanted to drive their vehicle after he’d consumed alcohol. She informed Cain that she didn’t want him to be driving at his level of intoxication.
She told state police that when Cain wouldn’t permit her and their nephew to enter the residence, he was very upset and threatened to shoot them. She said that her husband owns a .243 rifle and possibly a .357-caliber handgun.
Borough and state police surrounded the Cain residence, where they observed him through a kitchen window. He held a rifle and paced around inside while using his cellular phone. He was heard yelling, he “wasn’t scared to do it” and that “he’ll shoot if he has to.”
Borough police returned to the patrol car to bring it closer to the scene and to use its speaker system to communicate with Cain. State police were communicating with him verbally from outside the residence. Cain acted aggressively and stated he’d shoot anyone who comes through the door. State police ordered Cain to drop his weapons and to exit the residence so that they could hear each other better.
At this point, police began evacuating all the residents from the mobile home park. During the evacuation, police heard distinct shots at separate times. State police again ordered Cain to drop his weapons and to exit the residence.
Cain then shouted to state police that he “had 15 rounds in his gun and wanted to know what we were going to do about it” before returning inside. After approximately 10 to 15 minutes, Cain leaned out of his door several times with both hands in the air. He communicated that he wasn’t holding any weapons and he didn’t want to be shot. He also didn’t want to come outside until he spoke with a friend.
Several minutes later, Cain held out his hand with what appeared to be the barrel of a disassembled weapon. He shouted he no longer had a gun, as he’d broken it. He tossed the barrel onto the porch, which followed with what appeared to be the stock portion of the weapon.
Cain requested that he come onto the porch to smoke. He was later led off to speak with his friend who had arrived at the scene. Afterward he turned to arresting officers and said he “was ready to go.”
Police recovered a .22-caliber rifle and five empty shell casings. They also observed a bullet hole in the neighbor’s mobile home, which would have been discharged from the area of Cain’s mobile home.
