Child calls 911 concerned for his mom’s safety, man arrested

HELTONVILLE – A Heltonville man was arrested after a warrant was issued following a domestic incident on January 16, 2024.

On Wednesday, February 7, Lawrence County Police deputies arrested 36-year-old Gary Tischer on charges of domestic battery in the presence of a minor and intimidation.

Gary Tischer

According to a probable cause affidavit on January 16, Lawrence County Central Dispatch received a 911 call from a juvenile reporting Tischer was putting his hands on his mother. He was hiding in his mother’s vehicle.

Capt. Lonnie Johnson and Deputy Robin Compton responded to the home in the 6000 block of Bartlettsville Road. When police arrived, they spoke to a crying woman. She told police Tischer was intoxicated and the two had gotten into a verbal dispute. She threw a bottle of lotion at him but missed when the man called her names. He retrieved that bottle and flung it back at her, and the bottle missed her but was lodged in the wall. He then grabbed her by both ears, pulled her out of their bathroom into the bedroom, and threw her onto the bed, an air mattress on the floor.

They wrestled on the bed briefly before she could get up, and she was then cornered in the bedroom by Tischer. She attempted to kick Tischer to get him away from her, and that is when he grabbed her around the head and neck, choking her. He then threw her on the bed. He said if she hit him one more time, he would break her neck. She told police she was having a hard time breathing because he had strangled her.

She escaped, entered the living room, and tried shoving Tischer out the door to get him to leave. He retrieved a small fire extinguisher and threw it at her but missed. He told her he was going to contact his friends in the Arian Brotherhood and have her and her family killed. 

Tischer had left the scene before officers arrived. 

The information was forwarded to the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office and a warrant was issued for Tischer’s arrest.