82-year-old Bethel man jailed in shooting of wife during argument

A Bethel Township man charged with attempted homicide after seriously wounding his wife by shooting her in the head during an argument remained in Berks County Prison on Monday.

Howard P. Boltz, 82, of the 1200 block of Airport Road, was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possessing an instrument of crime and recklessly endangering another person.

He was arraigned Friday before District Judge Carissa Johnson in Reading Central Court and placed in Berks County Prison in lieu of $1 million bail.

According to court documents:

Berks County emergency dispatchers received a 911 call about 9:10 a.m. Friday from Boltz, who said he had shot his wife in the head.

Boltz told dispatchers that his wife had been berating and harassing him, and that he had “had enough.”

A Bethel Township police officer responded to Boltz’s home in the 1200 block of Airport Road and found the woman with a gunshot wound to the right side of her head. She was transported by ambulance to Hershey Medical Center for treatment.

Officials from the district attorney’s office said Monday that she was in stable condition in the hospital.

A few hours after the incident, Boltz was interviewed by police. He told them that he had gone into his basement to retrieve his .22-caliber riffle, went back upstairs to the dining room where his wife was seated by a table reading the Bible and fired one shot into her head.

He said he shot her to stop her from berating him.

Boltz said he called 911 about 20 minutes after shooting his wife.

His wife, 84, who was interviewed by a Berks County detective, said that as her husband approached her with his gun he said: “I can’t stand it no more. You are cutting me down.”

She said she then felt cold steel against her head and felt and heard a loud explosion, immediately followed by intense pain. She realized that she was bleeding heavily and shouted, “You shot me!”

The victim said her husband put the gun down, leaning it up against the fireplace. Despite her pleas for help, she said, her husband refused to provide her with any aide until she demanded that he summon an ambulance and he called 911.

Source: Berkshire mont