Burke

BELINGTON – A Barbour County man is in jail after being accused of threatening his neighbors and then multiple police officers.

Kyle Christopher Steven Burke, 43, of Belington, has been charged with two counts of wanton endangerment, and six counts of threats of terroristic acts, all felonies. He is being held in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $100,000 bond.

According to two criminal complaints, both prepared by Deputy Daniel Boise of the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office, on Friday, June 19, at about 9:51 p.m., Boise was dispatched to Buttermilk Ridge Road in Belington regarding a complaint of threats involving a firearm.

Deputy Boise, along with Trooper Moss of the West Virginia State Police, talked to the complainants, a married couple, who said their neighbor, Burke, had “become upset over a spotlight” located on their property, the complaint states.

The male complainant said Burke “threatened to shoot out the spotlight if it was not turned off,” and said that when he and his wife returned inside their residence, Burke came into the roadway and “discharged a firearm into the air,” according to the complaint. He said that Burke then yelled, “I’m going to blow your head off” and also threatened his wife.

The couple provided police security camera footage depicting Burke yelling in the direction of their residence, the complaint states. The officers than went to Burke’s home to speak with him, only to find “the entrance gate to the property was secured with a chain and padlock, preventing access to the residence.”

Meanwhile, Burke called Barbour County Communications and said law enforcement officers needed to leave his property, claiming they had no authority to be there because it was “Indian territory,” according to the complaint.

Boise and Moss, along with four other deputies and a K9 officer, returned to Burke’s residence to serve a signed warrant for him and a signed search warrant for the property, the complaint states.

Burke allegedly barricaded himself inside the house and screamed “I am going to f—ing kill you all” and “just f—king shoot me” and challenged them to fight him several times during the confrontation, according to the complaint.

After the officers had been on the scene about half an hour, Burke specifically pointed out one of the deputies and challenged him to “physically fight him in the front yard of the property” and then called the deputy “a profound list of names” before retreating back into the residence, the complaint states.

The officers on the scene then “took a different approach to the situation” and were able to make entry into the residence and apprehend Burke “with only minor injuries,” according to the complaint. Burke was transported to Broaddus Hospital where he was treated for his injuries, and was then discharged and transported to Tygart Valley Regional Jail for processing.