A 55-year-old High Ridge man allegedly threatened a man and woman with a rifle and ax handle at the intersection of Rio Drive and Old Little Antire Road off Hwy. PP in High Ridge, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The man was arrested shortly after the encounter, when deputies found him at a home in the 3100 block of Del Rio Drive in High Ridge. Deputies allegedly found a rifle the man had hidden in a shop at the home, the report said.
Deputies were called on March 15 to the intersection by a woman reporting she asked the man, who was driving a 2017 GMC Sierra that was pulling a trailer, to move out the intersection, according to the report.
The man then started yelling at the woman, and another man walked toward the intersection. As the other man approached, the High Ridge man got an AR-style rifle from the pickup and allegedly held it in a “low-ready position” and threatened the man and woman, the report said.
The other man told deputies that he pulled out his own handgun and held it at his side. When the High Ridge man saw the other man’s gun, he put the rifle back in the pickup, and the other man said he holstered his gun, according to the report.
However, the High Ridge man then took an ax handle out of the pickup, and he allegedly swung the ax handle while threatening the man and woman. When the woman said she was calling 911, the High Ridge man left the intersection, the report said.
The man was arrested at the home on Del Rio Drive and taken to the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, where he was booked and released pending the application for charges, according to the report.
The Sheriff’s Office will seek a charge against the man through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of fourth-degree assault, spokesman Grant Bissell said.