Gainesville man arrested for throwing rock into mother’s house after saying he wanted to kill her

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Bryan Joseph Howard, 36, was arrested overnight after allegedly throwing a rock through the window of his mother’s house and damaging her door after threatening to kill her.

Gainesville Police Department officers responded to a home in the Apple Tree neighborhood at about 12:40 a.m. after a woman called 911, saying that her son was trying to kill her.

Howard’s brother reportedly told officers that Howard showed up at the house uninvited and started banging on and kicking the front door. He said he realized his brother was outside when he heard him ask where their mother was, saying he wanted to kill her. After Howard’s brother told him they were calling law enforcement, Howard allegedly threw a rock through the living room window, breaking the window and items on tables inside the window. Both victims in the home believed they were being shot at and that Howard was intent on coming through the door to kill his mother, and Howard’s brother fired two shots through the broken window toward the trees in an attempt to scare him away. Howard then ran to his car and drove away but was stopped by officers nearby.

Officers reported that the front door was broken, along with the lock and latch, and the living room window was shattered, with glass scattered all the way to the back door of the house.

The victims told officers that Howard had repeatedly told his mother that he was going to kill her over the past few days. Howard’s mother said that when the rock came through the window, she believed Howard had shot into the house with a shotgun.

Post Miranda, Howard reportedly said he came over to talk to his brother about a debt he owed and that when he knocked on the door, his brother told him to go away or he would shoot; Howard said he kicked the door several times and then left. Howard said his brother came outside and shot into the air, so he threw a rock through the window because he was mad. He said he left after throwing the rock and that his brother never shot at him and he never thought his brother was trying to shoot at him.

Howard has been charged with two counts of throwing a missile into a dwelling and one count of burglary. He has two misdemeanor convictions (none violent). Judge Thomas Jaworski asked prosecutors to provide additional probable cause for one of the two counts of throwing a missile into a dwelling and set bail at $200,000 on the other two charges with a requirement that a GPS device be fitted before release.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

  • This is the second local article in a few weeks where a grown man tried to, or seriously wanted to, kill their mother.

    Society is seriously broken and most people are seemingly only interested in screeching about politics and race and all the other hot topic, divisive issues.

    • YES , also the leading candidate for president that the republicans are putting out has 91 felonies , & Already convicted of sexual assault , & lifetime business fraud . And 90% of the numbskulls commenting on these local arrested criminals would love to vote again for donald . good thing you cult member clowns are less than 20% of the electorate …p.s. how ignorant are you bozos to keep donating money to a fake billionaire with orange face paint ?

      • If you want to slam former President Trump, fine, but use the truth and real facts and not the lies the radical leftists are putting out. You are not even in the same country with the truth right now.

        • you are the exact cult member that meatball ron and fox news love ! you only listen to criminals and not facts !

  • Money – the root of a crap-ton of evil (I’ll stop short of committing to “all” evil).

  • If he’s 36 and having money or family issues, maybe Gainesville isn’t working out for him, hint hint?

  • Poor ill-raised baby. “C’mon, man” (quoth Prayzident Bribem), just giv’m another chance.

  • Shouldn’t have shot into the trees. Gainesville being what it is, I’m surprised they didn’t arrest the one brother for harming the foliage.

    This could have been an opportunity for Able to turn the tables on Cain.

    Be prepared, never know who’s going to show up at your door.

  • If he has threatening for several days I would take that as a serious intent, not spur of the moment anger.

    Hopefully this psycho can’t make bail because it seems pretty low for a dude that showed up at his mother’s house in the middle of the night threatening to kill her.

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