A Butler man accused of threatening children with a gun was acquitted of most but not all of his charges during a jury trial Oct. 15.

Timothy J. Krick, 57, was charged last year with misdemeanor terroristic threats, recklessly endangering another person and two counts of simple assault.

But a county jury found Krick guilty of only one count of simple assault, with the rest of the charges being dropped, according to court documents.

Prosecutors previously argued that Krick threatened children who were waiting at a bus stop on the corner of Spang and Morton avenues to get off his property, even though witnesses stated they weren't on his land, according to court documents.

Peter Schmitt of Butler was called on testify during the trial. In previous hearings, he testified that he was waiting with his 9-year-old stepson for the bus to arrive when Krick went back into his house and grabbed a gun before coming back out.

“We're very disappointed in the verdict,” Charles Nedz, Krick's lawyer, said. “We believe that Mr. Krick did nothing wrong in this case. Mr. Krick was brutally attacked by Mr. Schmitt.”

Nedz contends Krick was getting his gun to go to a nearby shooting range when he was attacked by Schmitt for yelling at the child.

Nedz said Krick's gun was unloaded with the safety lock on and that he never threatened or made any indication to use the gun on the children.

Nedz said that during the trial Schmitt lost his temper and began to yell at Nedz. He said that the judge overhearing the case, Timothy McCune, had to admonish Schmitt.

The second witness called to the stand to testify during the trial was Schmitt's stepson, according to Nedz,

During previous hearings, Schmitt testified that he was waiting for the bus to arrive when he had to wrestle the gun away from Krick before calling 911.

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

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.

In a previous interview, Schmitt told the Butler Eagle that when Krick came back out of the house, he was approaching the group of children. Krick turned away from them for a moment, allowing Schmitt to “sucker punch” Krick's mouth.

“I saw an opportunity and I took it, knocked him to the ground, forced the rifle off him and secured it until the officers arrived,” he said.

Nedz argued that this was an unprovoked attack, as Krick was just taking his gun to the car for a gun range session.

Krick will be sentenced later.

Timothy Krick