A transient York County man already doing jail time on other charges is facing additional charges, including entering a house in Oil City, holding a woman and several children at gunpoint and robbing them.
At about 11 p.m. on Oct. 11, a man, later identified as 19-year-old Tyler Burns, entered a house on Allegheny Avenue and held a woman and three minors at gunpoint with a gun that was described as a black revolver, Oil City police said in a criminal complaint.
Burns took a black purse, medication and phones belonging to the woman and demanded money, saying there were other people outside watching the woman and children, the complaint said.
The woman said Burns ransacked the room, flipping the mattress and took a watch from a nightstand, the complaint said.
After Burns took the watch, purse and phones he told the woman and three children that he would kill them if they were to contact police, the complaint said.
Police followed a vehicle they believed might have been involved in the incident to a residence on Hone Avenue, the complaint said.
On Oct. 12, Oil City police, the Erie Police SWAT unit and U.S. Marshal’s Office served a warrant at the Hone Avenue residence and took Burns into custody because he was wanted for being a parole absconder, the complaint said. Burns was on parole in connection with a March 2020 robbery arrest, the complaint said.
In the house, police noted marijuana in plain view as well as a black revolver, which was loaded, on the floor next to the bed where they found Burns, the complaint said.
Police then applied for and were granted a warrant to search the Hone Avenue residence, the complaint said.
During the search police found a jacket with ammunition in the pocket, drug paraphernalia, as well as a black purse containing an empty prescription bottle for Buprenorphine belonging to the woman Burn’s held at gunpoint as well as a cellphone with a floral case said to belong to Burns and his 18-year-old girlfriend, the complaint said.
The woman Burns held at gunpoint identified the purse and the prescription bottle as belonging to her, noting her name was on the bottle, the complaint said.
Police also recovered the watch Burns stole from the house on Allegheny Avenue, the complaint said.
Burns has been charged with felony counts of robbery- threat immediate serious injury, burglary- overnight accommodation, person present, bodily injury crime, and possession of a firearm prohibited as well as four felony counts of criminal attempt- aggravated assault- attempts to cause or causes bodily injury with deadly weapon and three felony counts of false imprisonment.
Burns has also been charged with a misdemeanor count of theft by unlawful taking- movable property, four misdemeanor counts of simple assault, four misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats and a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment.
Burns was arraigned Friday before District Judge Andrew Fish and placed in the Venango County jail with bail denied due to the severity of the charges.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday before Fish.
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