HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 26-year-old Hutchinson man charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal discharge of a firearm at or in an occupied dwelling, possession of stolen property and misdemeanor possession of marijuana and an added count of criminal discharge of a firearm was bound over for trial Thursday.
Christopher A. Vanwye is accused of threatening his mother’s fiance during an altercation back on Dec. 15, 2014. He’s alleged to have put the gun to the head of Delbert East while threatening him.
The suspect’s mother told the court that her son was suicidal and that she had never seen him that way. Maria Vanwye testified at the previous hearing that her son put the gun to his head and she pushed the chair he was in and the gun went off, missing her son, but going through a wall, this at a home in the 800 block of West 14th.
A neighbor told the court that the bullet went through a screen, storm window and a window in her home and lodged into a wall of her home, located across the alley from the home on West 14th.
The state also alleges that the weapon, an Astra 357 revolver, was stolen from another individual and that at the very least, Vanwye was in possession of stolen property. At the time of his arrest, he reportedly was also in possession of a small amount of marijuana.
Hutchinson Police Officer G.R. Ingram testified Thursday that they first responded to a criminal damage report and discovered that it was a bullet that went through the wall of Barbara King’s home. She is the neighbor who had the window broken and the bullet ended up in one of the walls of her home. That led to the investigation at the home of Vanwye and his mother.
Judge Joe McCarville found there was probable cause to send the case to arraignment and possible trial. Arraignment will take place on July 6 in front of Judge Tim Chambers.
Vanwye remains jailed on a $15,000 bond.