Two Pennsylvania brothers are being held at North Central Regional Jail after allegedly stealing a tractor from a property in Monongalia County and, in the process, firing a gun at the property owner.
Monongalia County deputies responded to the armed robbery call at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at a property on Lee Tennant Road in the Daybrook area, a press release from Sheriff Perry Palmer said.
According to criminal complaints, the caller stated that two brothers — identified as Thomas Edward Courtwright, 36, of Spraggs, Pa., and Gary Joe Courtwright, 44, of Greensboro, Pa. — came to his property demanding a tractor that was parked there.
Once the owner confronted the two men, Thomas “brandished a .22 revolver and fired one round at the owner,” the complaint said. The brothers then fled the scene on the tractor with two unidentified people following behind them in a blue sedan.
Responding deputies located the men, the sedan and the reported stolen tractor in the area of Crossroads Road.
The complaint said at that time the men were located, Gary was in the blue sedan with the .22 revolver between the seat and door of the vehicle. Thomas said he brought the gun with them “in an attempt to scare the residents” of the property on Lee Tennant Road.
A loaded shotgun was also found in the vehicle, deputies said in the complaint.
Both men were arrested and charged with first degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first degree robbery. Thomas faces an additional wanton endangerment charge.
The sheriff’s department did not disclose any possible motives for the tractor theft or if the suspects knew the victim.
Bond was set at $100,000 each.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
