DUBOIS – A Penfield man will stand trial for allegedly brandishing a gun in a convenience store.
Jason Thomas Bricen, 38, is charged with terroristic threats, simple assault, driving under the influence and three traffic summaries.
He waived his right to a preliminary hearing Friday during centralized court, where his bail was lowered from $50,000 to $25,000.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Nov. 18 at 10:34 p.m., police were called to the Nittany Minit Mart in Huston Township because of a report about an individual brandishing a gun inside the store. When they arrived on scene, the man had fled. He was identified as Bricen.
A witness told police Bricen had been in the store several times throughout the evening, looking for his girlfriend and continually arguing with her.
At one point when he returned, he had a black gun and was brandishing it. This witness said she was in fear for her life and several of the customers were also concerned. This is when the police were called.
At approximately 11:15 p.m., troopers saw Bricen driving an all-terrain vehicle on state Route 266 before he pulled into the Minit Mart. A perimeter was set up as Bricen was observed going back into the store.
When he exited the store, he was given verbal commands and was taken into custody. He was searched and it was determined he did not have a gun.
He did have a large knife, a prescription bottle with numerous white pills and another container with a white pill.
A trooper believed Bricen was under the influence of drugs and Bricen did not know why the police were there or what was happening. Bricen was asked to complete field sobriety tests that he failed.
He was transported to PSP DuBois and questioned. Bricen admitted he had been in the store and yelled at his girlfriend. He said he did not have a gun with him at the time of the incident but admitted he had a large knife on his right side.
Bricen is a convicted felon and not permitted to have a firearm, according to police.
Bricen’s girlfriend told police in her interview, that he also showed up at her house with a gun. Bricen allegedly told her son who also saw him with the weapon that “two people are going to get shot tonight” and he would figure out in the morning who it was.
She told police she was asleep on her couch when she woke to see Bricen standing over and leaning on her. After she told him he needed to leave, he went outside and pointed the gun to his head. She said he told her that if he can’t have her, then no one can. She described the gun as a 9 mm gun with the serial number ground off.
Because he did not have the gun when taken into custody, a search warrant was executed on Bricen’s residence. Police were not able to find the weapon described by witnesses but they did find two additional firearms that they seized.
