SHAMOKIN - A West Willow Street man has been charged by city police with pointing a loaded handgun at a neighbor during a fight Saturday night at the defendant's residence.
Aleksey Zokhrabekov, 37, of 34 W. Willow St., was arraigned by on-call Senior Magisterial District Judge Michael Mychak on multiple charges, including a felony of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was initially committed to Northumberland County Prison in Sunbury on $5,000 cash bail, which he later posted and was released.
Michael Reeser, 23, of 30 W. Willow St., the man Zokhrabekov is accused of pointing the gun at, also was charged in the disturbance with obstructing administration of the law, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
All the charges were filed by Patrolman Nathan Rhodes.
According to a criminal complaint filed at the office of Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III, officers found several people at a party engaged in a fight when they responded to Zokhrabekov's residence at 9 p.m. Upon speaking to witnesses, police learned that Zokhrabekov had pointed a loaded Smith and Wesson SD9 VE semi-automatic handgun at Reeser.
A witness, who police did not identify, said he saw Zokhrabekov pull the handgun from under his coat and wave it in the direction of Reeser. The witness said he then grabbed Zokhrabekov in an attempt to disarm him and protect himself and others. At that point, the witness said Zokhrabekov threw the gun in the area of his residence.
The witness said he quickly located the gun and unloaded 15 9mm Lugar bullets from its magazine. The witness said Zokhrabekov tried to grab the gun back from him before Reeser grabbed the handgun and threw it across the street, where it was later retrieved by police.
Zokhrabekov admitted to pointing the gun at Reeser and possessing the weapon without a license. He gave himself up to police at the scene, but Reeser intervened as police were taking Zokhrabekov into custody. Police said Reeser opened the rear door on a police cruiser to gain access to Zokhrabekov. Police said Reeser refused to step away from the open door, threw his arms backward and struck police before being taken into custody.
In addition to the felony, Zokhrabekov was charged with misdemeanors of carrying a firearm without a license, recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats, simple assault and disorderly conduct.