Man accused of threatening campers with machete |
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LARAMIE (WNE) — A 41-year-old Cheyenne man, Joseph O’Byrne, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly using machetes Sunday to threaten the lives of campers at Happy Jack.
Those campers told deputies for the Albany County Sheriff’s Office that, the night before, they had been hiking and “had spoken to the defendant about his dogs on the trail and the defendant laughed and continued down the trail,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The next morning, O’Byrne came to their campsite off Forest Service Road 714 that morning and, while brandishing two machetes, allegedly asked them if “they were ready to die and then stated he was ready to die,” the affidavit states. O’Byrne then reportedly began hitting trees and swinging his machetes as the campers filmed a portion of the incident.
After leaving briefly, O’Byrne allegedly confronted the campers a second time, again hitting trees with his machetes and swinging them around before he got into his minivan and began to drive away.
That was about the time when deputies arrived, and O’Byrne pulled his minivan over and exited.
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