Camouflaged man caught on camera pointing gun at McDowell County home

By Justin Berger

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    MCDOWELL COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — A bone-chilling incident was caught on camera in McDowell County on Saturday night.

“As I’m folding one towel, I have my phone lying in front of me and I see an alert that there’s some motion on the back,” Preston McHone said.

It was a few minutes after 11 p.m. when, on his phone, he saw a man dressed in camouflage pointing a gun toward his home.

“So, I just turn around and yell, ‘Billy, there’s somebody at our back door with a gun,’” McHone recalled.

“And he asks me, ‘Is this a joke?’” McHone’s partner, Billy Brooks, said.

Initially, they thought it was police at the wrong house or a teenager with an airsoft gun.

On video, the man quickly flees after inspecting his gun, apparently misfiring, according to Brooks and McHone.

“As he pulls the trigger, he turns and, in that short turn, he’s realizing it didn’t go off because he’s supposed to, at that point, have shot him and would be turning towards me,” McHone said.

The couple hid inside their home for several minutes until law enforcement arrived.

According to the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office, Tyler Messer is the man seen on camera eerily pointing the gun toward the home.

A day later, deputies arrested and charged him with assault by pointing a gun, trespassing and stalking.

“In my mind, the first thing I’m thinking once we’ve just gotten all these bits and pieces of the puzzle, like for how long?” McHone asked. “This has been on his mind, and we’ve thought nothing of him.”

Both men said Saturday night wasn’t Messer’s first uninvited visit to their home.

Brooks posted the security video on Facebook shortly after and received a message saying the person on camera (Messer) is the same person who visited their home on three separate occasions.

“I didn’t really think any more about it until this incident,” Brooks said. “And that was like a year ago … and the very first contact from his friend was, ‘Yeah, that’s Tyler Messer, he’s the one that had been coming to your house.’ And it all clicked.”

The McDowell County Sheriff’s Office said more charges are anticipated but did not provide any details regarding motive.

“Am I going to have to sell my home that I’ve lived here and up until this point it’s been peaceful?” Brooks asked.

Messer is being held on a $200,000 bond.

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