Timothy Krick

A Butler man accused of threatening school children with a gun at a bus stop in April was ordered to stand trial at a preliminary hearing on Monday.

Timothy J. Krick, 56, will face formal arraignment in Butler County Court of Common Pleas on July 3, on charges of misdemeanor terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person and two counts of simple assault. The charges were bound over by District Judge William Fullerton.

Krick remains in Butler County Prison on $10,000 bail.

Butler police filed the charges after the alleged incident at the corner of Spang and Morton avenues on April 27, when police said Krick threatened children waiting at a Butler School District bus stop.

Peter Schmitt, who was sitting nearby with his youngest son, waiting for his oldest son's bus to arrive, testified that he wrestled the gun away from Krick before calling 911.

Schmitt testified Monday that he walks his children to and from the bus stop every school day, and has done so for several years. Schmitt said he has never had a problem with Krick before the April 27 incident, when Krick, who was walking his dog, started yelling at a group of students and adults to get off his property.

“He stated that he was tired of the children stealing his mail,” Schmitt testified.

That is when Krick went inside his house, stating he was “going to take care of this once and for all,” before coming back outside with a rifle, Schmitt said.

Schmitt said Krick backed out of his door with the rifle. He tried to calm Krick down before getting into an argument, Schmitt said, when Krick raised the rifle and Schmitt hit him twice in the face before wrestling the gun away.

“I physically assaulted him before I took the gun,” Schmitt testified. “I sucker punched him twice in the face.”

After wrestling the gun away from Krick, Schmitt said he backed off and called 911.

“My first instinct was to get the gun away from him,” he said.

Officers arrived and took Krick into custody.

“I don't know what led to this incident,” Schmitt said. “But once I heard 'I'm going to take care of this once and for all' I took that as a threat. With all these school shootings and such, you have to take that seriously.”

Krick's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Charles Nedz, argued that no evidence had been presented that the gun was loaded and that anyone was “actually in danger.”

He then requested a bond reduction on the basis that this was the first altercation to occur with Krick, he has no prior convictions, and he agreed to pretrial supervision and to have no contact with the victims.

“This is an isolated incident,” Nedz argued.

However, Fullerton said he did not have enough evidence that Krick was not a threat, and refused to reduce Krick's bond.