Police accuse Hempfield man of assaulting, threatening woman ‘to release the demons’

Paul Peirce | Wednesday, June 3, 2020 1:57 p.m.

File

A Hempfield man accused of holding a woman against her will and threatening her with a handgun, shotgun and knife on Tuesday surrendered to state troopers.

Marlin D. Perkins, 45, was arraigned on two counts each of simple assault, making terroristic threats and reckless endangerment. He is in the county prison on $50,000 bond set by Hempfield District Judge Mark Mansour.

State police responded to Perkins’ Umbar Lane home about 9:30 a.m. after a male roommate heard the threats and the couple arguing, Trooper Keith Sobecki reported. The roommate told troopers he heard Perkins repeatedly “threaten to kill the woman.”

Troopers surrounded the house and Perkins released the woman, Sobecki wrote in court documents. Perkins surrendered a short time later.

Police confiscated a 12-gauge shotgun and .45-caliber handgun, both loaded, from inside the residence. Police also recovered a knife from a bedroom where the argument was taking place. Sobecki reported a mattress and sheet were punctured and torn “like stabbing and cutting action created by a knife.”

The witness told police that he fled the residence when he heard the victim tell Perkins to stop choking her and to put the gun down.

The woman confirmed the threats, telling investigators that Perkins had been hallucinating and threatened her with a knife, saying it was “to release the demons from her.”