Man waves charges in gun incident
A Kittaning man, accused of firing a gun while trying to break into a home last year, will be heading to county court after the charges against him were waived on Monday.
Trimayne K. Franklin, 30, was charged with felony criminal trespass, terroristic threats and misdemeanor recklessly endangering another person after an incident in Butler on Sumner Avenue on March 15, 2016.
Those charges were waived to Butler County Court ahead of a scheduled preliminary hearing on Monday. He is scheduled for formal arraignment on June 20.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Franklin allegedly showed up about 5 a.m. at a home on Sumner Avenue and started pounding on the front door, and the resident reported hearing a gunshot.
Butler police said neighbors also reported yelling and a gunshot, and saw a black man dressed in black clothing standing in front of the house and a white man in blue jeans nearby. Both men then ran off, but police soon caught William Claypool, 23, of Slippery Rock. He was found about 5:30 a.m. trying to hide under a porch.
Police said Claypool reported that he met Franklin near the home and remained at the bottom of the steps while Franklin went to the door and banged on the victim's door, before seeing him pull out a gun and fire a round at the front porch steps.
Franklin was wanted in that incident when he was arrested in April after a shooting at a home where he was staying in the 100 block of East Brady Road, East Franklin Township, Armstrong County. In that incident, two unidentified suspects attempted to rob a 33-year-old Atlanta man, before one of the men fired a gunshot, which hit the Georgia man in the face.
Franklin allegedly ran out the back door during the incident, and was found by police at a neighbor's house. He was arrested on the unrelated warrants and placed in the Armstrong County Jail, before being transferred to Butler County, where he was arraigned on April 26, and held in the Butler County Prison on $75,000 cash bail.
Franklin was also wanted since 2012 on a warrant out of Adams Township, in connection with a felony drug case stemming from a traffic stop at Route 228 and Brickyard Road on April 30, 2012. Police said Franklin was allegedly driving with a suspended license and with a suspended license plate, and was allowed to leave. Later, police said, they got a search warrant for the vehicle and found crack cocaine.
Franklin was charged with felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and summary traffic violations. He is set for a preliminary hearing on those charges today.
He was also wanted on a bench warrant issued in July 2012 after he failed to appear in Butler County Court for a probation violation in connection with a conviction in a 2010 felony drug case.
