JUMPING BRANCH W.Va. (Hitnton News) – According to a criminal complaint, on Sunday, Dec. 7, a trooper was dispatched through Summers County 911 to a call in the vicinity of Amick Farm Road for a call involving a disturbance with possible shots fired.
When the trooper was on the way to the call, a Hinton city officer reportedly told the trooper he was on scene and that an individual was shut up inside the barn and refused to come out.
The trooper arrived on scene with another trooper and was reportedly told the individual was in the barn at the end of the road and refused to come out. The troopers arrived at the barn and attempted to make contact with the individual by way of the PA system on the police cruiser. About this time, the criminal complaint reports that they see the individual come out of the barn with both hands in the air. The trooper then detained the individual.
Once the person was detained, the trooper asked what happened, and the individual allegedly said the accused, later identified as Zina Jason Angell, drove a tractor into the barn in which he was residing. He said he had a camper he was living in inside the barn.
According to the criminal complaint, the victim told the trooper that Angell tried to enter the barn from the side door but couldn’t, so he took the tractor with hay spikes on the front to the side of the barn. According to the victim, that’s approximately 15 yards from the bedroom of the camper where the victim was lying.
The victim reportedly advised that once the tractor made its entrance into the barn, he got his pistol and fired 5 shots in the vicinity of where Angell was driving the tractor. The victim told the trooper he felt his life was in immediate danger once Angell drove the tractor into the barn trying to reach him. The victim allegedly stated that he had no safe exit routes once Angell made an entrance with the tractor into where he was residing. The victim also said Angell had been coming around threatening to kill him, according to the criminal complaint.
The trooper then spoke to Angell, who reportedly told him he thought the victim didn’t have the right to still be living in the barn. He allegedly went on to say he had been attempting to remove the door to make entry into the barn. At the point the tractor made entry into the barn, he heard gunfire.
At this time, the trooper placed Angell under arrest on assault charges. He was transported to WVSP Hinton Detachment for processing, then transported to Southern Regional Jail.
At the time of publishing, Angell is not listed as an inmate at SRJ.
