CLEARFIELD – A Tyrone man was sentenced to state prison Monday for firing a gun and hitting a woman in November.
Matthew Ray Strayer, 30, pleaded guilty during sentencing court to person not to possess firearm and two counts of simple assault. Judge Paul Cherry sentenced him to four to eight years in state prison.
The domestic incident happened at a residence in Lawrence Township when the victim says Strayer fired a .22 caliber bolt action rifle filled with bird shot at a wall separating them.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, when police arrived on scene, they could smell a strong odor of a recently fired weapon in the home and could see a softball size pattern on the wall from the bird shot.
The victim was holding a napkin covered in blood to her left elbow, but said she didn’t need medical attention.
She explained that when she woke Strayer up, he got mad and started to yell at her. After she went into the kitchen, he picked up her gun and shot in her direction, hitting the wall between the kitchen and the living room.
Next, he picked up a hammer and started to swing it at her. After he hit her, he put it down, she told police.
He then dumped out her purse, found her car keys and left in her vehicle.
While the victim was talking with police, Strayer called her, saying, “I am in Curwensville, waiting for police to get here and when they do, I’m going to stab every one of those (expletive).”
He called a second time to repeat his threat. After the victim pointed out to him that he didn’t even have a knife, he claimed he had a butterfly knife with him.
Police were able to located Strayer by “pinging” his cell phone, which showed he was traveling toward Tyrone.
