A Gassville man who is alleged to have told his wife he was “tired of being old” and went outside shortly before a single gunshot was heard did not take his life but did wind up being charged with threatening members of his family with a pistol.
Fifty-eight-year-old George Demitrius Photides appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday and pled not guilty to the charges against him. He told Judge John Putman he planned on hiring an attorney to represent him.
He was ordered to reappear July 17.
When Gassville police officers responded to Photides’ address along Highway 62 west and contacted him, they reported he was “extremely intoxicated.”
Photides’ wife said after hearing the single gunshot, she and the couple’s minor daughter rushed outside fearful he had killed himself. Both females told police they saw Photides sitting in a lawn chair pointing a pistol at his right temple.
He is then reported to have moved the handgun away from his head and pointed it at his wife. She said she began backing away, begging her spouse not to shoot her or commit suicide.
At one point, the wife and daughter reported they ran into the front yard of the residence where a call was made to a family friend.
The friend came and took all the guns from the house. The probable cause affidavit is silent on how, when or by whom Photides was disarmed.
Before police arrived, Photides, described as being very angry, hit his minor daughter on the arm and told her not to “talk to the cops” when they arrived on scene.
Charges against Photides include aggravated assault, terroristic threatening, 3rd degree assault on a family or household member, 2nd degree endangering the welfare of a minor and disorderly conduct.
His bond is set at slightly more than $16,000.
Because of the seriousness of the incident, Photides was made to sign a no contact order requiring him to stay away from the victims, according to the probable cause affidavit.
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