Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Bryan Joseph Howard, 36, was arrested overnight after allegedly throwing a rock through the window of his mother’s house and damaging her door after threatening to kill her.

Gainesville Police Department officers responded to a home in the Apple Tree neighborhood at about 12:40 a.m. after a woman called 911, saying that her son was trying to kill her.

Howard’s brother reportedly told officers that Howard showed up at the house uninvited and started banging on and kicking the front door. He said he realized his brother was outside when he heard him ask where their mother was, saying he wanted to kill her. After Howard’s brother told him they were calling law enforcement, Howard allegedly threw a rock through the living room window, breaking the window and items on tables inside the window. Both victims in the home believed they were being shot at and that Howard was intent on coming through the door to kill his mother, and Howard’s brother fired two shots through the broken window toward the trees in an attempt to scare him away. Howard then ran to his car and drove away but was stopped by officers nearby.

Officers reported that the front door was broken, along with the lock and latch, and the living room window was shattered, with glass scattered all the way to the back door of the house.

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The victims told officers that Howard had repeatedly told his mother that he was going to kill her over the past few days. Howard’s mother said that when the rock came through the window, she believed Howard had shot into the house with a shotgun.

Post Miranda, Howard reportedly said he came over to talk to his brother about a debt he owed and that when he knocked on the door, his brother told him to go away or he would shoot; Howard said he kicked the door several times and then left. Howard said his brother came outside and shot into the air, so he threw a rock through the window because he was mad. He said he left after throwing the rock and that his brother never shot at him and he never thought his brother was trying to shoot at him.

Howard has been charged with two counts of throwing a missile into a dwelling and one count of burglary. He has two misdemeanor convictions (none violent). Judge Thomas Jaworski asked prosecutors to provide additional probable cause for one of the two counts of throwing a missile into a dwelling and set bail at $200,000 on the other two charges with a requirement that a GPS device be fitted before release.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.