Man Threatens to Shoot Family Members

were called to Main Street Friday morning on a report that a man was threatening to shoot his wife, according to court records.

Mark Peterson, 54, of 327 S. Main St. was heading to the American Hotel at 202 S. Main St. as police approached the scene. Chief Thomas Trachta and Officer Stephen Schleig found Peterson outside the bar, where he was “yelling and cursing.” Trachta and Schleig reported that they could smell alcohol on his breath.

Peterson’s wife, Carol Peterson, told police her husband came home from the Sands Casino at 2:40 a.m. and was very drunk. Peterson then started arguing with the woman’s son and his girlfriend who are living in their house, saying he wants them out.

She said her husband had six guns in the house and wasn’t supposed to have them.

While trying to move his gun cabinet, Mark Peterson allegedly said  “he wants the freeloading felons out of the house or he will shoot them.”

Peterson was charged with making terroristic threats, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. He was sent to Northampton County Prison on $15,000 bail.

The foregoing arrest information was supplied by the Nazareth Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.