BUTLER TWP — A man is headed for trial on charges he held a handgun to a woman's head and assaulted her during a weekend domestic dispute at their home in the township.

Jason C. Kropko, 51, was ordered held for court on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and harassment at a preliminary hearing Thursday before District Judge Kevin O'Donnell.

The alleged victim, a 51-year-old woman, did not testify, but at the start of the hearing, prosecutor Robert Zanella, a county district attorney, played the 911 call she made.

During the call around 6:45 p.m. Sunday, the woman sounded frantic, and she could be heard crying. At times, it was difficult to understand what she was saying.

“He had a gun to my head,” she told the dispatcher, who asked her a series of questions.

“Is he holding a gun to your head now?” he asked. “No,” she replied.

When asked, she said she believed there were four guns in the house.

“He's like a little kid. He has problems,” she told the dispatcher at one point. “I don't want anybody to hurt him.”

Police said she later described herself as a friend of Kropko's. They live together, but their relationship is not romantic, she told them.

The woman let the dispatcher know she was beaten by the defendant and alleged he had kicked her in the knee. She said she was away from him, and that he was in a bedroom.

The dispatcher asked her if she was able to get out of the house. She said she was, but noted she did not want to leave his father in the house. Kropko's father also lives there, police said.

Eventually, the dispatcher directed her to leave the house. She went into the backyard. The dispatcher kept her on the line until police got there and escorted her to safety.

Due to the nature of the call, police from Butler as well as Penn and Middlesex townships assisted township police, and officers surrounded the house.

An officer contacted the suspect's father, police Sgt. James Sasse testified, and helped him get out of the house.

Several minutes later, Kropko came outside. But he refused to immediately put up his hands and get on the ground, Sasse said, which led an officer to force him down.

Police later got a search warrant for the house, where they recovered the gun, a .44-caliber revolver, that they believe was used during the incident. It was “fully loaded,” Sasse said.

The woman in interviews with police recounted that the defendant had been upset with her since May 7. On Sunday morning, she told police, he punched her in the head and kicked her in the left knee cap.

Later, Sasse testified, while the woman was laying on the bed, she “felt the pressure of a cold barrel of a gun to her right temple.” Kropko allegedly was holding the gun. She said she was able to elbow it away.

“Kropko rolled on top of her,” according to the criminal complaint, “and hit her on the left side of her head with the gun barrel saying, 'I'm going to kill you.' ”

The woman's injuries, police said, included swelling and bruising around her right eye and to the bridge of her nose, and a swollen left knee.

Sasse told Kropko's attorney, public defender Charles Nedz, that the victim did not go to the hospital or receive any medical treatment for those injuries. But, he noted, she is “having trouble walking.”

The officer, during cross-examination, also said that Kropko asked to speak to an attorney following his arrest, and declined to be interviewed.

Following testimony, Nedz asked O'Donnell to dismiss the lone felony charge, aggravated assault.

“There has been no allegations that (Kropko) ever discharged the weapon or attempted to discharge the weapon,” he said. “A firearm is only a deadly weapon if, in fact, it is discharged.”

Zanella argued otherwise.

“I don't believe the statute reads that a gun is not a deadly weapon if not discharged,” he said. “The statute directly reads that a firearm is a deadly weapon, period.”

Kropko remains in the Butler County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bond.