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Deputies: MacDill Worker Hits Wife, Aims Gun At Family

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 29, 2008

Updated: 09/29/2008 11:29 am

Jeremy Barton

TAMPA - Jeremy Barton, who works in communications at MacDill Air Force Base, lined his wife and four children up against their living room wall and pointed a handgun at them, Hillsborough County deputies say.

Deputies arrested the 32-year-old Riverview man at 11:45 p.m. Sunday.

He was charged with four counts of child abuse and one count each of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery by strangulation and tampering with a victim.

The incident at 6:30 p.m. Sunday began when, following an argument over family issues, Barton placed his wife in a headlock, deputies say.

According to the arrest affidavit:

In another room, Barton knocked his wife to the ground, mounted her and punched her several times in the ribs.

He picked her up, placed her against a wall and choked her.

Then he got the handgun from another room and loaded it in the garage. He got locked out of the home, but he got back inside by firing a shot into the doorknob.

When he re-entered the home, he lined his wife and children against the wall, pointed the gun at them and yelled at his wife. He took her cell phone and broke it in half so she couldn't call police.

The incident occurred at their Riverview home, but he was arrested at the MacDill Motel, 6227 S. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa.

Barton works for Joint Communications Support Element, the Department of Defense's "premier communications organization and the nation's 911 for communications support," according to its Web site.

He began working at MacDill in July, MacDill spokeswoman Rebecca Heyse said. Barton hasn't been suspended, she said, and MacDill is waiting to see how the investigation proceeds.

"Our No. 1 priority is making sure his family remains safe," Heyse said.

His children are ages 2, 4, 8 and 9. They weren't injured. Barton's wife suffered bruises but wasn't taken to a hospital, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Barton remained in Orient Road Jail today. His bail had not been set.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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