A Franklin Township man was arrested after allegedly threatening a pair of staff members at Butler Memorial Hospital and later showing up at the facility with a handgun.
Butler Township Police charged 72-year-old Darrel Kearns on Monday with a felony count of making terroristic threats.
Police allege Kearns was upset with some of the nursing staff following his wife’s discharge from the facility. He’s accused of threatening the staff and making a comment “about coming back to find the specific staff that dealt with his wife,” according to court documents.
Police were called after hospital security officers found Kearns walking around the hospital on Monday afternoon with a .45-caliber pistol, three loaded magazines and a knife. Kearns allowed security officers to disarm him and no one was hurt.
Authorities say Kearns does hold a valid license to carry a concealed weapon. When officers asked him why he was carrying so many magazines, he said “his instructor told him to always have an extra magazine.”
When officers confronted him, he called the incident an “accident” and said he always carries a firearm and forgot to remove it when he came back to the hospital to ask some questions.
