By Marcia Moore
The Daily Item
SHAMOKIN — A 14-year-old who assaulted a young neighbor with a 3-foot-long samurai-like sword dropped the weapon only after repeated demands, and at gunpoint, by Shamokin police.
Jordan Bruns, of 233 W. Sunbury St., Shamokin, is in Northumberland County Prison, where he faces felony charges as an adult.
Shamokin police responded to a report that Bruns was swinging a sword outside at about 7:30 p.m. Monday and had struck the arm of a young female neighbor as she swept the sidewalk at 229 W. Sunbury St.
Officer Scott Weaver said when he arrived, he saw Bruns with the large sword in his hand and a smile on his face.
The boy twice ignored police demands that he drop the weapon — with one side sharpened — and still refused to comply when Weaver drew his gun and pointed it at the boy from about 20 feet away, the criminal complaint said.
Bruns set the sword down only after repeated demands, the officer said.
The unidentified girl he struck with the dull side of the blade told police Bruns was swinging the sword and asked "How do you like it?" when it hit her arm.
Interviewed by police with his father at his side, Bruns denied intentionally striking his neighbor and said if she was hit with the sword it was only because she "got in the way."
Richard A. Barley, of Washington, D.C., has been visiting his mother at 227 W. Sunbury St. for a few weeks and had seen Bruns walking around town swinging the sword, which he described as a katana sword.
Bruns' father answered the door at the family home Tuesday afternoon, but declined to comment on the incident or say who gave his son the sword.
Katana and samurai swords are readily available for as little as $20 online.
Barley said his brother warned Bruns that he would be in trouble with the police if he continued to wield it menacingly in public.
According to Weaver's criminal complaint, Bruns shrugged off the warning.
On Monday night, Barley saw Bruns playing around with the weapon in his side yard and soon after heard the young girl yell out.
"She was crying hysterically," he said, adding that she did not appear to be cut.
The girl's mother could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Neighbors said they have frequently complained to police about Bruns swinging his sword outside, hitting bottles and taking siding off his house.
He was arraigned before on-call District Judge Robert J. Bolton on a felony assault charge and two counts of misdemeanor simple assault, prohibited offensive weapons, recklessly endangering another person and terroristic threats.
Because of the severity of the charges, Bruns was charged as an adult and sent to county jail in lieu of $60,000 cash bail pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for later this week before District Judge John Gembic III in Shamokin.
Warden Roy Johnson said due to Bruns' age, the teen is being held alone in a cell, segregated from the rest of the inmate population.
"The staff tell me he's doing fine," said Johnson, who planned to meet later Tuesday with the jail's youngest inmate.
Schooling is not an issue, he said, but the prison would have to accommodate his educational needs if Bruns' incarceration is prolonged.
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