Man accused of pointing AK-47 at daughter

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ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A St. Paul, Minn., man is facing charges for allegedly pointing an AK-47 rifle at his teenage daughter during an argument about grades, police said.

Kirill Bartashevitch, 51, was charged with two counts of terroristic threats, one against the girl and the other against her mother, for the Jan. 13 incident, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Monday.

A criminal complaint filed Friday, said police were called to a school Jan. 17 after a social worker received a report from a male student's mother who found a message to her son in which Bartashevitch's daughter said her father had pointed a rifle at her.

The girl was interviewed by the social worker and admitted that she and her father got into an argument over her grades -- she got two B's instead of straight A's -- and that she swore at her father.

Bartashevitch then grabbed his AK-47 and pointed it at the girl. The girl's mother jumped between the two while Bartashevitch was pointing the gun.

The teen "said she wasn't scared because she didn't think that the gun was loaded," the complaint said. "She did say that she was afraid to go home."

A police officer made arrangements for the teenager to stay at a shelter.

Bartashevitch had recently purchased the weapon because he thought such guns soon would be banned, Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

He allegedly admitted to police he had pointed the gun at his wife and daughter but said it wasn't loaded and he had checked the chamber beforehand.

"Any gun owner in America will tell you that's incredibly irresponsible," Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said. "You just don't point guns at people."