Clay County man charged with threatening man with bow and arrow

UPDATE 7/13/17: Charges against Gary Ruddlesden have been dropped.

A Middleburg man was arrested June 23 after witnesses say he pointed a bow and arrow at his neighbor’s new boyfriend.

That woman told Action News Jax she’s frustrated law enforcement didn’t take action sooner.

“He was always a very nice person, but he lost his mind,” she said.

She asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation.

Gary Ruddlesden lives with his mother right around the corner from her.

Clay County deputies arrested Ruddlesden after witnesses said he pointed a bow and arrow at the woman’s new boyfriend after an argument through the fence.

“Bow and arrow sounds kind of like a kid thing, almost. But it’s like a hunting bow and arrow,” she said.

Ruddlesden’s mother said her son just wanted to scare them, not hurt them.

“He’s not a bad person,” said Ruddlesden’s mother.

Ruddlesden told his mother and friends that the woman is his ex-girlfriend, but she said they were just friends.

Clay County Sheriff’s Office records show the woman called deputies out to her home three times in the past month with complaints that Ruddlesden was harassing her.

“Since May 26, I’ve probably gotten over 300 texts. So when the police came out, you know, you try to point out the threatening ones – that he was going to kill my animals,” she said.

The reports said deputies told her to block his number.

She said she hopes this will be a wake-up call to law enforcement that they need to take women’s complaints of harassment more seriously.

Ruddlesden is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, a third-degree felony.

He is being held on $15,000 bond.

Although Ruddlesden has had a few run-ins with the law in the past, including pleading guilty to trafficking drugs, court records show this was his first time being arrested for a violent crime in Clay County.

Cox Media Group