Freeport man accused of pointing handgun at women

Freeport police say they used surveillance camera video to find a man accused of pointing a loaded pistol at two women and threatening to shoot them.

The women said they saw a man, later identified by police as Michael Anthony Rivera, stumbling along a sidewalk on Fourth Street at Market Street at about 10 p.m. March 16, police Chief Jeffrey Swiklinski said.

The women told police they asked Rivera, 28, of Freeport, if he was OK but told him to back off when he acted aggressively.

The women told police Rivera then pulled a handgun from his waistband, racked the slide to chamber a round and pointed it at the women, police said. The women said he accused them of making disparaging comments about him.

Police said the women pleaded for their lives and got behind a car parked along Market Street.

“Please don’t,” the women implored. Police said one of the women told them all she could think about was, “I am going to die today.”

Police didn’t find Rivera in the neighborhood. But they used video from security cameras in the area to find the driver who dropped off Rivera along Market Street. It was that driver who identified Rivera for police, Swiklinski said.

Police say they found a 9mm handgun in Rivera’s apartment.

He is charged with carrying a handgun without a permit, making terroristic threats, assault, using lewd and threatening language, causing a hazard and public drunkenness.

Rivera was being held Monday in Armstrong County Jail after failing to post $50,000 cash bond. He is awaiting a preliminary hearing.

“This is highly unusual in Freeport,” Swiklinski said.