Man Charged After Threatening Family, Assaulting Father
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A 24-year-old man is facing multiple charges after breaking into his family home and assaulting his father while the man held the suspect's own 1-year-old son.
Officers were called to the Hass Street home just before 4:30 a.m. after getting reports of a man who was being assaulted by his adult son.
The suspect's father tells KDKA that he was in fear for his life and for his other family members inside the house, and had to make a quick decision to stop his son from hurting anyone else.
Police spent hours this morning at the house in the 1400-block of Haas Street where 24-year-old Marcus Jones allegedly broke in and attacked his own father.
"I don't want to shoot my son. I love my son," said Horace Durham, Jr., the suspect's father. "Pushed me to a point where I, um, I was taking so many blows I wasn't able to defend myself."
After an earlier incident at Jones' grandmother's house in which Jones was allegedly upset because he thought his grandmother had thrown his marijuana stash away, police say an agitated Jones went to his father's just a block away.
Jones' grandmother, father and Jones' 1-year-old son were all inside.
With a gun in hand, police say Durham fired a warning shot into a wall inside the home trying to stop his son from kicking in the front door, but it turned into a violent assault.
Police say at one point Jones allegedly knocked his father, with the baby in his arms, down some stairs as they tried to get away from him.
"I had the baby in my arms and everything, and he's breaking through the doors," said Durham. "We're rumbling for my weapon. He has me down and he's hitting me."
Jones was shot once in the leg and drove himself to Allegheny General Hospital.
The toddler was not hurt in the incident, but Durham says that was his main concern, keeping everyone safe and stopping his son from hurting anyone else.
"That was the only thing I could do to get him under control, to make sure everyone was safe," he said. "My mother, his son, cause he was threatening to take the baby."
Durham was treated at the scene for multiple aches and pains.
Pittsburgh Police say Jones will be arraigned at the hospital.
According to police, Jones is also accused of tearing out all the phone cords and threatening to take a car during the earlier incident at his grandmother's home.
Despite initial reports, police say he did not need surgery and is now listed in serious but stable condition.
Jones is facing a long list of charges, including burglary, endangering the welfare of children, theft by unlawful taking, aggravated assault, criminal mischief and simple assault.
While at the scene, police say they took the revolver into their custody.
Watch Lynne Hayes-Freeland's report:
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