William Warren Taylor, 48, of Carnation, today claimed that he was innocent of threatening his wife, Patricia, with a crossbow.

Charges stemming from the June 20 incident included second-degree assault and domestic violence. Taylor was arraigned on these charges this morning, July 7, in King County Superior Court, and entered a not-guilty plea, court papers stated.

According to the King County Prosecutor’s documentation, Taylor was arrested at 10:45 p.m. Monday, June 20, after his wife had called 9-1-1 twice about his threatening her. The police report stated that Patricia had come home from work that day around 2 p.m., William appeared intoxicated and the couple argued until she went to bed. Patricia’s testimony states that while she was asleep, with their 8 year-old granddaughter, William came into the room and verbally threatened her, so she went outside to call 9-1-1.

While she was outside, she reported that William came outside and started working under the hood of her car, until she told him to stop and he went back inside. Patricia stated that when she came back inside, William came into the room with a cocked and loaded crossbow and threatened to kill her. She reportedly got all of the children out of the house (the couple lived with their grandchildren, ages 6 to 12), called 9-1-1, and drove away.

The responding officers reported that William was unarmed when they arrived on the scene, and they arrested him without incident. They also indicated that he claimed to not have touched the crossbow in years, but later said he had been cleaning it.

A hearing to set Taylor’s trial date is scheduled for July 19.