ADAMS TWP — An alleged abusive husband is accused of choking his wife during an attack Monday at the couple's home on Joe Lane.

She managed to escape the house only to be dragged back inside by 51-year-old John W. Brown, township police said.

A month earlier, according to court documents, Brown fired a gun inside the house near where 53-year-old Sherry Brown sat.

After speaking with Sherry Brown and seeing numerous bruises on her neck, left arm and body, police arrested John W. Brown, who is in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail.

District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Brown Monday night on a charge of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, a third-degree felony.

He also is charged with unlawful restraint, reckless endangerment, simple assault and harassment.

A friend of Sherry Brown's first notified police June 4 of the alleged ongoing domestic abuse. However, Sherry Brown "would not do anything because she was scared," a police affidavit said.

But after Monday's altercation, the woman decided to come forward, police said.

The couple has been married for seven years, court records showed.

She told investigators that her husband had been drinking vodka all night and became "enraged" about 9 a.m.

After one failed attempt to get away, she ran out of the house, got to her truck and drove to a friend's house for help, according to court documents.

Police said Sherry Brown also provided a written statement about a May 22 incident during which her husband fired a .357-caliber handgun. The shot went through a wall in the house, about 3 feet from her, her statement said.

Brown's preliminary hearing is July 7 before District Judge Wayne Seibel in Evans City.